Legacy
by DarkUnderworld
Summary: **Sequel to Vicissitude, Part 3 in the Rogue trilogy** Legacy: Something that is passed down through an ancestor or predecessor; an inheritance. Raph/OC/Leo
1. Prologue

**Alrighty all, as requested by your many awesome reviews, this is the sequel to Vicissitude! (which would be third in the Rogue series. If you have not read Rogue or Vicissitude, this story will make no sense, so I recommend reading the first two;)**

**And I would like to thank Amonraphoenix for pushing me to do a sequel even before Vicissitde had ended, and for hammering me with so many great and awesome ideas and beta reading this chapter for me.:)**

**A/N still don't own the turtles *sigh***

**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys!:)**

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**Prologue**

**Raphael **placed the second tab across his son, Ren's, diaper. Raphael looked over at Leonardo who was placing Ren's twin sister Ryu's squirming leg through her pink sleeper.

"Okay, someone's gotta say it." Michelangelo began as he walked into the nursery.

Raphael glanced over his shoulder at his baby brother who was holding onto the hands of three year old Toshiro and his sister, two year old Sage. "Say what, Mikey?" Raphael asked as he buttoned up Ren's sleeper over his light yellow plastron. Ren grinned up at him, his light grey eyes standing out starkly against his jade coloured skin.

"Both of you need to get fixed." Michelangelo stated seriously. "You two have had like 4 kids in three years!" Michelangelo said with an incredulous shake of his head. "Which would be like, fine, except both of you are married to the same chick, which means Katherine's been pregnant for over three years straight!"

"We didn't know we were going to have twins, Mikey." Leonardo said as he picked Ryū up and grinned broadly at her, her skin a shade darker than Leonardo's, but a shade lighter than Toshiro.

"And besides, Toshiro and Sage were an acci...a surprise." Raphael amended as he smiled at Toshiro who ran towards him, latching himself onto one of his legs while Sage let go of Michelangelo's other hand and ran to Leonardo, wanting to be picked up. Her short, green tinged blonde ringlets bouncing as she jumped up and down in front of Leonardo.

Leonardo handed Ryu over to Michelangelo and picked Sage up, smiling at her, her dark brown eyes smiling as she laughed in delight. Sage was the only one of their children that looked almost human. She very closely resembled Katherine in looks except for her hair and skin, which appeared slightly green in certain lights, and unlike Katherine her eyes were a rich, dark brown.

They suspected that Leonardo was her father, but they weren't sure, they hadn't cared enough to do a DNA test to find out.

The twins -Ren and Ryū- were three months old and their paternity was also unknown, though Raphael suspected that he was their father, but he had no actual proof and hadn't really cared enough to ask Donatello to do a paternity test. Raphael had learned that some things were better left unknown.

"So what are we supposed to do, Mikey, just ask Donny to do a little snip-snip action down there?" Raphael snorted. "Yeah right, that ain't happening bro."

"Don't worry, Mikey, Katherine said number three and she was done." Leonardo said as he twirled Sage around. "But we got an extra surprise." Leonardo said with a grin as Sage squealed with delight.

Toshiro ran to Leonardo wanting his turn in the fun. Leonardo put Sage down and she ran to Raphael who put Ren in his crib and picked Sage up, giving her a huge hug.

"And blame Kitten." Raphael said with a slight shrug. "She's the one who wanted the kids so close together. She figured the last kid would feel left out if his or her older brother and sister were so close in age. But we had twins, so I guess it didn't really matter."

Michelangelo put Ryu back in her crib and crossed his arms over his plastron shaking his head, but with said a slight grin on his face. "I still say you two need to be fixed. It's no wonder she ran out of here as fast as she could." Michelangelo said as he shook his head. "So when's Kitten going to be back anyway?" Michelangelo asked curiously.

Raphael shrugged. "She said she would be gone for about a week I guess." He said as he walked with Sage from the room, hoping that the twins would fall asleep. They were fine at the moment, but for the last few days he could tell that the twins had been missing their mother; all of the children were, and Raphael and Leonardo missed her as well. "I know it's only been three days, but I get nervous when Kitten isn't around." Raphael growled in irritation as he thought about Katherine's 'job'.

Katherine had finished her 'maternity leave' and been given her next assignment; which was to track down a shipment of illegal weapons that were leaving the country at the behest of a certain buyer. Katherine's job was to try to track down the weapons and gather the information that would lead a government task force to the manufacturer of the weapons. The government would then determine if the weapons had been stolen, or if the company was trying to make a profit by selling the weapons on the black market.

This meant that it was not Katherine's job to stop the shipment of weapons, but just to gather the information; which had pissed her off because she wanted to make sure the weapons did not leave the country. But she had been given her orders, which she had agreed to only because Raphael and his brothers had all agreed to stop the shipment and destroy the weapons. They didn't want her putting herself into harm's way. The Wraith was a symbol of justice, not a vigilante, and they didn't want her to become one.

"So when are you and Holly going to tie the knot?" Raphael asked his brother, hoping to turn the topic of conversation away from Katherine, because every time he thought of her his stomach would clench into little painful knots of worry.

Raphael walked downstairs with Sage, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Toshiro following.

"I don't know, Raph, hopefully when she finishes school." Michelangelo mumbled out and Raphael looked over his shoulder to look at his brother's blushing face.

Raphael nodded and grinned. Raphael had been surprised to learn that Holly was going to school to become a nurse. With her pink hair and party girl attitude Raphael hadn't expected her to be taking something that not only required a lot of brains, but a lot of dedication as well. But Holly was a girl who worked hard and played even harder. But Michelangelo and Holly seemed to hit it off and Raphael was happy for his baby brother. He knew that Michelangelo wanted to ask Holly to marry him, but he had forced himself to wait until she had finished her degree. Which made sense, Holly had a lot on her plate at the moment and she would be done in the spring.

Of course Raphael also knew that Michelangelo was wanting to start a family of his own, the sooner the better. Michelangelo's biological clock had kicked in and although Michelangelo was only thirty, he was going to turn 31 in May. But Raphael suspected that with Holly's career, his brother may have to wait a little longer than he wanted to start a family.

"Don't worry, Mikey, you're only 30." Raphael said with a chuckle. "You've still got plenty of time."

"Yeah, I know. But I see you and Leo's kids and I want what you have." Michelangelo replied softly a tinge of want in his brother's voice.

"Things will work out, Mikey." Leonardo said with an encouraging grin. "Holly's only what, 26?" Michelangelo nodded. "That's plenty of time."

"I know," Michelangelo moaned. "But Donny and Ivy are getting hitched in June, and I thought that we could do a double wedding. But Donny said 'No'. So I gotta wait till at least after they get married."

"Why did Donny say 'No' anyway?" Raphael asked curiously.

Michelangelo shrugged. "Something about Holly and Ivy always having to share everything together because they are twins. So Ivy wanted just one day where it was all about her." He replied.

Raphael frowned but nodded. "Makes sense." He told his brother.

"How are Ivy and Donny anyway?" Leonardo asked quietly as Toshiro ran into the playroom.

Sage began to struggle. "Daddy, down." She said wanting to follow her older brother and play. Raphael let his little girl down and watched her run to go and play.

Michelangelo gave an hitched shrug. "They are concentrating on the wedding." Was his brother's soft reply.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Ivy had been pregnant, but had a late term miscarriage eight months into her pregnancy, nearly a month ago. They hadn't really seen much of either Donatello or Ivy after they had heard the tragic news and had attended the small funeral service for their daughter.

They knew Ivy was trying to focus on her music. She composed musical scores for commercials and movies and tended to be quite busy with her work. And Donatello had immersed himself in his work, building some sort of new machine; though they weren't exactly sure what it was or what it was supposed to do.

"But I think they're going to try again after the wedding." Michelangelo put in as they stopped to watch the two children slide down the little plastic slide that had been set up in the playroom. The winter sunlight slanted in through the windows giving the yellow, painted room a cheery feel despite the frigid temperatures outside.

Katherine's uncle had give Katherine and Raphael a house as a wedding present. Mansion would actually be a better word for the 10 bedroom, 8 bathroom house that was located on the same property as the 'cabin' that Katherine had used while she had been in New York painting the portraits for the museum. Michelangelo and Donatello were still living in the lair, but they all knew that once both Michelangelo and Donatello got married, that they were going to move out of the house had seemed huge at first, until four kids later and Katherine's mother, Michelangelo, Holly, Donatello, Ivy, Casey, April and Shadow all visiting and staying for extended periods of time making the house felt almost too small at times.

The fact that Katherine had 'wed' Leonardo as well was kept more as an intimate family secret that was shared between themselves, Katherine's mother, Holly, Ivy, Casey, April, Barry and Deon. The rest of the party guests who had been invited to the wedding had been oblivious to the impromptu handfasting ceremony that had been held on the edge of the loch. And Raphael and Leonardo had been fine with that.

"Did Donny come with you or is he coming with Ivy?" Leonardo asked Michelangelo as he watched Toshiro snatch a toy from Sage who started to wail loudly.

"Toshiro, give that back." Raphael sternly told his son who reluctantly gave Sage her toy back. Sage gave a hiccup as she stopped crying and clutched her toy close to her chest, giving her brother a vicious scowl. Toshiro grabbed for another toy and ignored his sister as Sage turned her attention to a new toy, dropping the one she had been so heartbroken to lose a moment before.

Raphael gave a faint sigh of resignation and shook his head at the short attention spans of his son and daughter.

"He's with Ivy." Michelangelo answered Leonardo's question. "She spent the night at the lair so they are both heading in. I was at Holly's so we came in together. But they should be here any minute." Michelangelo answered. "Holly's in the kitchen unpacking dinner." Michelangelo said with a smile.

Raphael and Leonardo both nodded. Holly and Ivy were going to babysit while Raphael and his brothers followed the lead that Katherine had texted them a few hours ago. Raphael had texted Katherine back to back off and to go and do her job. But he hadn't gotten a reply text, which had begun to make him more and more nervous the longer he didn't hear anything from her.

"Alright then, when Donny gets here we will be all set to go." Leonardo said with a nod to his brothers as they gathered up the two kids at the sound of raised voices coming from downstairs.

Raphael smiled, excited to be able to spend some time with all of his brothers. He was looking forward to heading into the city, running across the rooftops, stretching their muscles and if they were lucky, bashing in a few skulls in the process.

Raphael was feeling practically domesticated now a days. All he ever seemed to do was change dirty diapers and look after the kids. He was so damn tired most of the time that when Casey came out to watch a game and hang out for the weekend; Raphael found himself only talking about the kids and barely even being to stay awake until 10pm.

He was beginning to miss the excitement and rush of his bachelor days. Not that he would trade Katherine or the kids for the world, but just getting out once in a while, feeling a little danger and being in the moment didn't seem too much to ask for. Raphael just hoped that Katherine just stayed out of the way and let them do their job.

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**Raphael** looked out the front window of the truck in trepidation. "Come on, Leo!" He shouted at his brother. "Drive faster!"

"I'm driving as fast as I can, Raph." Leonardo growled at him in irritation as they held on for dear life as Leonardo sharply rounded another street corner.

Raphael watched the lights of the traffic fly by them as they drove erratically through the streets of Manhattan. "I don't like this, Leo." Raphael grumbled as a feeling foreboding traveled cloyingly over his skin.

"I know, Raph." Leonardo snapped in irritation.

"Make your next right." Donatello ordered as Leonardo cranked the wheel, sending them all slamming into the left side of the truck.

"Damn it!" Raphael roared. "I knew we never should have let Kitten go back. We told her that we would handle it!" He yelled in exasperation.

"Raph," Michelangelo began soothingly, "Kitten never said that she was going to the warehouse."

Raphael turned his angry gaze towards his baby brother. "She never said she wasn't either." He ground out through clenched teeth. "Mikey, I have a ball of lead sittin' in my gut at the moment that tells me that Kitten is in trouble, really, really deep tropuble. So don't try tellin' me that she's not." Raphael snapped as he clutched at his stomach as it did another sickening roll.

They had begun driving to the address of the warehouse that Katherine had texted to them, which turned out to be in a deserted, decrepit section of the east side docks .

Raphael had never received another text from her, which was not that unusual, but he had also texted both Barry and Deon to let them know that he and his brothers were taking care of the weapons and to keep Katherine as far away as possible from any danger.

Unfortunately he had never received a text back from either Barry or Deon which had just made his stomach clench even more with gut churning worry and apprehension.

Donatello spoke up again from the back of the truck where he sat with Michelangelo."We're almost there. Should be on the right hand side."

Raphael looked over at his genius brother, who looked tired and drawn. He hadn't really known what to say to his brother after his and Ivy's horrific loss, but Raphael was glad that Donatello had put his sorrow and his grief aside to help them out; venturing out of his lab -and the lair - for the first time in weeks.

"Thanks for coming, Donny." Raphael said softly to his brother gratefully.

Donatello looked at Raphael and smiled. "I'm good, Raph, thanks." Donatello said to him softly giving Raphael's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "And Ivy's good too. We'll try again...someday. It still hurts, but these things happen, and Ivy understands that as well. I've come to terms with our loss and we are moving on, hoping for better things in the future." He said comfortingly. "Besides, I'd never let you guys get into trouble without me. Plus Kitten needs our help."

Raphael felt his face drop as worry crowded his mind again. "I hate feeling this way, Donny. I can feel that something is really wrong; that she's in trouble...and I think...I think she's badly hurt." The last came out as the softest whisper.

"Don't worry, we'll find her. She's going to be just fine, Raph." Donatello said with a smile as he gave Raphael's shoulder another comforting squeeze. "Kitten always manages to get herself into and out of these things on her own."

"I can't live without her, Donny. I...I just can't lose her again." Raphael whispered miserably as he thought back to nearly four years ago when he had thought he had lost her to a bullet through the chest.

"Here." Donatello barked suddenly.

Leonardo slammed on the breaks, the truck skidding to a halt. Raphael braced his hand on the windshield to stop himself from being thrown through the glass.

"Raph." Leonardo whispered softly.

"I know." Raphael growled.

"Something's not right." Leonardo said shaking his head from side to side as they peered up at the darkened warehouse in front of them.

"Don't care." Raphael growled as he leap from the truck, his brothers following his lead. "You sure this is the right place, Donny?" Raphael asked as he pulled his sais from his belt, clenching them so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Donatello nodded as Leonardo unsheathed his swords. Donatello put his GSP locator in his bag and pulled his bo from his back as Michelangelo slowly pulled his nunchucks from his belt, a grim look on his baby brother's face.

"Donny," Raphael began in a low and dangerous voice. "When Kitten comes back home you are going to find a very ingenious way of keeping track of her. Or better yet, she's never going out on assignment again. They can put her on desk duty for all I care. I can't take this shit anymore!"Raphael roared angrily.

"Gee, Raph, I don't think the other side of Manhattan heard you." Michelangelo said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Mikey." Raphael snapped, his anger increasing as worry for his wife began to reach a fever pitch of anxiety.

"Hey, Raph, don't get all snarky with me..." Michelangelo began as Leonardo put his finger to his lips silencing him from bickering any more with his baby brother.

"Let's get in, find Katherine, and then get out. Something about this place doesn't feel right. This entire area is completely deserted." Leonardo quietly observed, his eyes darting vigilantly back and forth between darkened shadows.

"Are you two sure that Kitten is even here?" Donatello asked quietly.

"Where else could she be, Donny?" Raphael asked, a hint of panic beginning to fill him voice. Raphael looked over at Leonardo who motioned with his katanas that the door to the warehouse was unlatched.

Raphael clutched his sais even tighter, the sweat from his palms making the grips slippery. "Well, let's go say hello." Raphael growled as Leonardo bent over and rolled up the metal door, letting the meagre light from the moon light a tiny portion of the warehouse's darkened interior.

"It's quiet." Michelangelo whispered as they quietly and slowly entered the warehouse.

"Don't you dare say 'too quiet', Mikey." Raphael hissed at his baby brother.

Michelangelo just shrugged as they paused in their movements. They listened and heard nothing except for the wind blowing outside.

"This place is deserted!" Raphael snarled as his eyes frantically searched the darkened interior for any sign of Katherine. He found nothing but wooden crates stacked upon each other in haphazard towers; some that threatened to fall with the slightest amount of effort.

They moved further into the building but encountered nothing and no one. Raphael jammed his sais into his belt as he roared in frustration. The feeling of danger for Katherine was crawling across his skin leaving goose bumps in its wake. "She's not here!" He shouted as his eyes flew to Leonardo who turned and looked at Raphael over his shoulder. Leonardo's face was grim and pale. "Leo?" He questioned as Leonardo suddenly stilled his head tilting up as if he was trying to listen to a very faint sound.

Raphael listened intently as he looked over at Michelangelo who was a little in front of him, Donatello bringing up the rear behind him.

Raphael finally heard a high pitched squeal that sounded familiar, but his mind was having a hard time identifying it.

Raphael looked at Leonardo in confusion. His brother's eyes suddenly widened in understanding and fear just as Raphael identified the sound. He and his older brother shared a bleak moment of horror filled understanding. Raphael dove for Michelangelo trying to protect his baby brother while Leonardo tried to do the same for Donatello, just as the missile struck the warehouse. Their world exploded into a ball of burning flames, flying debris and thick, acrid smoke. Agonizing pain ripped and tore through Raphael's body as he was forcefully plunged into darkened oblivion.

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**Michelangelo** blurrily opened his eyes and encountered all of the flames of hell surrounding him in a towering orange-lit inferno. Flames licked and burned at his skin as he tried to move, but found that something heavy was draped across his body crushing him. He shook his head a few times, trying to clear his vision as he looked down and saw that it was Raphael who was limply sprawled across his chest. "Raph?" He questioned nervously, unable to hear his voice over the ringing in his ears. "Raphie?" He questioned again, his voice no doubt carrying with it the faint edge of panic and terror.

His brother didn't respond as Michelangelo gently attempted to move Raphael without injuring him further. He heaved his brother off and gasped in fear and horror. Raphael's face was a ruin of blood and chunks of metal shrapnel. Michelangelo's horrified eyes drifted down Raphael's body, the entire upper left side of Raphael's body was a burnt, blackened, bloody, mangled mess of ripped, shredded, shrapnel torn, still smouldering flesh.

Michelangelo grabbed the front of Raphael's jacket in terror filled panic as he desperately tore the burning, smoking leather from his brother's unresponsive body.

With a shaking hand burning with pain he reached out with two fingers, frantically searching for a heart beat as his gaze swung around looking for Leonardo and Donatello in the carnage that surrounded him.

"Donny!" He shouted desperately, but was unable to hear a reply if there was one. His ears still didn't seem to be hearing anything but a high pitched ringing noise.

Michelangelo felt a thready, weak pulse flutter underneath his fingers and he breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Just hang on, Raph. I'm gonna find Donny and Leo." He told his unconscious brother as he pulled himself shakily to his feet searching through the orange tinged inferno that surrounded him.

Michelangelo squinted through the smoke filled, fiery haze as he managed to spot what looked like a soot covered hand buried under a pile of broken, splintered wood. He stumbled over to the pile of wood digging through the charred and still burning mound, ignoring the burns on his hands as he desperately searched for Donatello and Leonardo. "Donny! Leo!" He called out desperately, wondering irrelevantly why he was even bothering to call out his brother's name since he wouldn't be able to hear the answering reply.

He lifted off a thick piece of planking and unearthed the rest of his brother's torn and bloody forearm. Michelangelo felt his world go black around the edges as he fought back his need to vomit when he realized that the hand he had been trying to uncover was no longer attached to his brother's body, but now he knew which brother the hand had belonged to.

"DONNY!" He cried out in horrified terror and he watched a growing puddle of blood begin to trickle out from around where he half sat, half knelt on the floor. Michelangelo quickly dashed the tears of misery and fear from his eyes and cheeks as he dug further into the pile of wood finally unearthing his brother's badly battered body. "DONNY!" He yelled as he shook his brother frantically, praying that he was somehow alive, despite the horrific amount of blood loss. Donatello partially opened his pain glazed eyes and spoke, but Michelangelo couldn't hear or understand his brother's words.

Michelangelo shook his head from side to side. "I can't hear you, Donny." He told his brother who motioned with his uninjured right hand, pointing down at his legs which were still buried under a mass of shattered wood.

Michelangelo nodded and quickly removed the broken beams revealing his brother's shredded and torn left leg. Michelangelo tore off his mask, quickly tying it around Donatello's shattered leg, trying to stem the crimson tide that poured forth from his brother's leg.

Michelangelo then tore Donatello's mask from around his head as he deftly tied a tourniquet around what was left of his brother's right forearm.

Donatello grabbed Michelangelo's shoulder anxiously. He mouth the words 'RAPH' and 'LEO'.

"Donny, listen to me...You're hurt bad, really, really bad. Your arm...your leg..." Michelangelo choked back a sob as he clutched Donatello's uninjured hand desperately. "You're bleeding really bad Donny." He said dashing tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. Donatello let go of his hand and brushed a bloodstained finger across Michelangelo's cheek. Donatello's eyes filled with tears and excruciating agony as he again asked about Raphael and Leonardo. "Raph...he's...he's hurt bad, but I don't know how bad it really is and I don't know where Leo is." Michelangelo choked out in a wavering voice that was filled with panic and terror.

Donatello nodded in understanding and motioned for him to go. 'FIND LEO' His brother mouthed. Michelangelo paused and shook his head from side to side unable to leave his gravely injured brother.

Donatello grasped Michelangelo's hand firmly in his own and gave it a squeeze as he more firmly mouthed 'LEO' and gave an encouraging nod to leave him. Michelangelo reluctantly left his side searching in vain for his oldest sibling. The smoke burned his eyes and throat as he began coughing as he searched the flames until his managed to spot a flash of brilliant cerulean amongst the greys, blacks and orange hues of the burning building. He rushed to Leonardo's side, falling to his knees hard as he looked at the heavily saturated, blood covered cement that surrounded his motionless eldest brother.

"Oh, God, Leo." Michelangelo whispered in desolate horror as he shook his head back and forth in disbelief. "LEO!" He screamed in anguished misery that shook him down to the very depths of his soul.

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**And yes I really am going to leave the chapter at that, cause I am evil;)**

**Thoughts and opinions are always welcomed!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Alrighty all. Chapter 1 is finally up!**

**A giant thank you to Amonraphoenix for the great ideas, suggestions, support, her insane amount of knowledge, and for beta reading this chapter for me!**

**also a big thank you to 35226, Diana Fay, I love kittens too, mela989898, moonie016 and forgotten forever for your reviews!**

**I am crossing my fingers that everyone will enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

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15 years later...

Chapter 1

**Toshiro** pushed back the hood of his dark hoodie and allowed the cool breeze brush the ties of his black mask back from his shoulders. His amber eyes surveyed the rooftops that surrounded him. He took a deep breath of the night air, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

He had run most of the way here and he felt, energized and alive. He walked to the edge of the building and looked over the ledge at his quarry down below.

"A Porsche? Where the hell did this guy get a Porsche?" Toshiro muttered to himself as he watched the tall blonde human walk around to the other side of the red car and open the passenger side door, helping a young woman from the passenger seat.

"Damn it. The guys an F-ing gentleman too! Where the hell did she find this guy?" He growled in irritation as he watched the guy walk the dark haired girl to her apartment building's door. "Don't let him up, don't let him up…Yes!" He pumped his arm happily as she thanked the guy for whatever, and turned, closing the door on the guy's face.

"You are so busted." A voice crowed over his shoulder making him jump slightly and lose his balance on the edge of the building. "You're not supposed to be out here."

Toshiro jumped back recovering quickly as he angrily rounded on his sister. "Sage." He hissed out angrily as he felt the blush begin to stain his cheeks dark.

"You are totally pathetic. Why don't you just ask her out already? I'm tired of watching you stalk her, it's just sad bordering on creepy." Sage informed him in a slightly mocking tone.

He glared at his younger sister who was leaning casually against the rough brick wall of the building that was wedged next to the one they were currently standing on.

"That's easy for you to say." He snarled at his sister. He was angry at her words because it was something that he wished he could do, but something he knew he couldn't. "I don't look like you." He snapped out angrily as his eyes raked down his sister's dark black armoured body suit that covered her human body; her long, straight, pale, green hair was pulled tightly into a ponytail at the base of her skull. "At least you look human. Me, not so much."

"Oh boo-hoo." Sage said to him in irritation. "Whaa! I'm so sad because I look like a mutant turtle. Quit being such a big baby and just tell Shadow that you like her, so the rest of us don't have to sit around and watch you moon over her anymore."

His amber gaze narrowed even further in anger. "It isn't that easy. It's hard enough asking a chick out under normal circumstances, let alone looking like I do." He ground out through clenched teeth.

Sage rolled her dark eyes at him and gave her head a slight shake. "Just talk to her. As a girl I am telling you, just say something. If she thinks you're icky and doesn't think of you that way, at least you will know, and you will be able to move on." She said encouragingly. "And thankfully, so will the rest of us." She mumbled under her breath.

"Icky?" He asked stung by the hurtful remark.

"Yes icky, as in 'ewwhh I think of you as a brother who was always slightly annoying and used to pull my hair and stick frogs down my dress'; that kind of icky." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I never pulled Shadow's hair or stuck anything icky down her dress." He protested innocently.

"Yeah, but there was that time when you drew on her face with permanent marker. Then there was that time you and Ren somehow managed to dye her hair fire engine red the day before school picture day. And there was that time when..."

"Okay, okay." Toshiro said holding up his hand and interrupting her. "I get your point. She might think of me as a...brother." He spat out the last word in disgust.

"So, then she thinks of you as a brother. She's known you for all ninteen years of your life. She isn't the only chick in the whole world you know." She pointed out to him.

"But she is the only chick who knows what I am and doesn't treat me like some sort of freak or monster." He said to her angrily, his temper flaring to life again.

Sage just shook her head and turned on her heel and walked away in irritation, but threw over her shoulder. "You aren't a freak, Shiri." She huffed out. "Or a monster."

"Don't call me that." He snapped. "You know I like to be called Shade now."

"Whatever. You can't impress or intimidate me by trying to make yourself sound tough by changing your name." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I know you used to wet the bed 'till you were seven and that you scream like a little girl when you see a spider."

"Hey!" He protested in embarrassment. "My body grew quicker than my bladder, and spiders are just...yuck! They crawl up the drains when you are in the shower..." He cut of this line of thought as a new one struck him. He darted forward catching up to his sister, and pulling her to a stop. "What are you going to tell dad?" He asked in apprehension.

"Why would I tell dad anything?" She asked him innocently.

"Because you always rat me out when I'm doing something I'm not supposed to." He said as she pulled out of his grip. Sage turned her head away and crossed her arms over her chest again. "Wait...Dad didn't send you out to find me?" He asked as Sage began walking away again. "You snuck out?" He asked incredulous. "Daddy's little girl is breaking the rules?" He asked in shock as he followed her as she glared at him over her shoulder.

"You aren't the only one with a life that your dad is seriously cramping, Shiri." Sage snapped at him.

Toshiro stopped in shock, his golden eyes narrowing in suspicion. "It's gotta be a guy." He guessed suddenly. "You have a crush on some guy, don't you?" He crowed as a grin spread across his face. "Who is he?" He asked as he ran to catch up to his sister.

"Do I look like I am sneaking out for a date?" She asked him in frustration.

He looked her over and conceded that she had a point. Her ninjaken blades were strapped to her back and she was wearing her light weight armour. Her forest green mask was tied tightly across her forehead, the tails moving slightly in the warm breeze.

"But, it's _possible_ that I was sent out to find you by a certain concerned uncle. And if I _happened_ to run across a certain guy that I may or may not like, it wasn't like I wasn't doing what I was _supposed_ to be doing in the first place." She said with a mischievous shrug.

Toshiro blinked and smiled. "Uncle Mikey?" He questioned.

Sage gave a quick smile and a nod. "Come on, we should go home." She said as she pulled him along. They reached the edge of the building and looked down. She held out her hand for a moment and he looked at her in confusion. He looked down at the street below to a dark haired guy who parked a beater of a car on the street, and got out. He looked around as he closed and locked his door before running up to Shadow's building. Toshiro narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as the guy buzzed at the door. The human waited a few moments before Logan, Shadow's brother, came to the door and let him in.

"Isn't that...Dex, Logan's friend?" He asked curiously.

"Come on." Sage said ignoring his question.

"No, no." He said shaking his head and pulling his sister to a halt. "You don't get to pick on me for not telling Shadow how I feel and then turn around and not tell this guy how you feel." He told her. "That's hypocritical."

"You sure that word wasn't too big and complicated for you?" She asked him sarcastically.

"Funny." He mocked as he pulled a face. "Stop trying to change the subject."

"Shiri..." Sage turned and faced him, her face serious. "You think looking like this is easy in our family?" She asked him quietly as he stared back at her in confusion. "I am the _only _one who looks human." She continued. "The only other humans that are around are Auntie April, Uncle Casey, Shadow and Logan, and they aren't related. In our family _I_ am the one who is the freak. I have to wear special armour so that when I spar with you, Ren and Ryu, I don't end up with broken bones. Sure, I can walk around during the daytime and not have anyone give me a second glance, but what then? I couldn't go to school, I can't hold down a job because I don't actually exist. No birth certificate, no high school diploma, nothing. And as for talking to Dex, what's the point? I can't bring him home to meet the family because, oh yeah, we live in a sewer, my family are a bunch of mutants, and my siblings are half human mutant turtles." She said with a miserable shake of her head.

"Sage..." Toshiro began softly, stunned by his sister's words.

"I wonder sometimes, you know, if I look like...Her." Sage whispered softly.

Toshiro didn't have to ask who 'Her' was, because no one ever spoke their mother's name. She was always referred to as 'Her' in soft, hushed, grief filled whispers. Toshiro and his siblings had learned early on that the subject of their mother was a firmly closed book. They knew that their mother's name was Katherine, but they had no idea what her last name was, or had been, and they had no idea what she looked like. There were no pictures or videos of her, and as far as they knew, nothing of their mother's anywhere in the lair. If it wasn't for Toshiro's vague memory of a woman with a soft, kind voice, a comforting presence, and brilliant moss green eyes, Toshiro would believe that she didn't exist at all.

But she had, and she had been killed, snatched from their lives when they had been no more than toddlers and babies. As for their father, he absolutely refused to talk about what had happened to her, or tell them anything about her.

"Do you remember anything about Her?" Sage asked softly.

Toshiro sighed and shook his head. "I wish I did." He replied quietly. "I've told you a million times Sagey. Just the smell of...flowers maybe, a comforting presence and green eyes." He said slightly disheartened that he couldn't remember a single thing more about his mother. "And so what if you do look like Mom?" He asked his sister with a shrug.

"I'm not the only girl in our family. There's Ryu, but Dad treats me like I am going to break at any minute. Do you have any idea how much trouble I will be in if Dad finds out that I am out here?" Sage asked him earnestly.

"About as much trouble as me." Toshiro said with an unconcerned shrug.

"No, cause you're a boy. And even though I've been as well trained as you, I am never allowed to go out on my own. This is the first time I've been out of the lair in two months! Every time everyone goes out on patrol I am the one stuck guarding the lair." She growled furiously.

"That's because you are the only one that Dad trusts enough to actually stay home and guard the..." He blinked at Sage as she looked at him in disbelief. "What?" He asked defensively. "That's what he always says. 'Sage you are the only one I trust to guard our home'." Toshiro defended.

Sage continued to look at him as if he were an idiot that she was ashamed to be related to. "Please tell me you don't actually believe that lie?" She hissed incredulously.

"But you never say anything!" He protested. "You just say 'yes Dad', and smile at him like he is giving you this great responsibility."

Sage sighed. "That's because I don't want to disappoint him. He's been through so much. I mean with his leg and his arm...and...and Mom..." She shook her head. "The yelling I could take, but that disappointed look he gets on his face when I do something wrong. I just can't take it. But I want him to know that I can fight as well as all of you, and that I can help." She finished quietly.

"We all disappoint Dad every now and then." He said because he didn't really know what else to say to his sister, because a small part of him agreed with his father. Sage was as well trained as the rest of them, but she was...human. She was so, so, very human, and in their minds, human meant breakable.

Sage thought about his comment and nodded glumly. "Let's go, before we both get in trouble." Sage grumbled.

Toshiro gave a quick nod as a flash of black and white caught his attention. He turned his head and stared across the street to the next rooftop, but whatever or whoever he had seen was gone. Toshiro frowned as Sage called out to him. He turned his attention back to his sister and followed her home.

They entered the lair quietly and carefully. It was silent and dark. Sage gave Toshiro a quick nod of goodnight and slipped towards her room that she shared with Ryu, who would no doubt be sleeping by now.

Toshiro didn't feel like going to bed quite yet, and decided to slip into the kitchen for a light snack before heading off to bed.

He opened the fridge door and searched the disappointing and meagre contents.

"Hey Kid." A rough, gravelly voice said from the direction of the kitchen table.

Toshiro yelped in surprise as he quickly pulled his hook swords from his back, falling into a defensive pose.

The shadowy figure sitting at the table moved slightly.

Toshiro found himself relaxing and sheathing his swords as he glared at his Uncle.

"You know kid, if you're that jumpy maybe you shouldn't be going off on your own like that." His Uncle growled at him.

Toshiro narrowed his eyes at his uncle angrily. His Uncle's presence grated on his nerves and patience. He had run into his uncle four months ago, literally.

Toshiro had snuck out of the lair after his family had come back from patrol. He was running across the rooftops when he had heard a scream for help. He had dashed across to the next roof and noticed a group of five thugs cornering a poor defenceless woman in a dark alley. Toshiro had moved into attack, but a dark shadow suddenly leapt into the alley and dispatched all of the thugs with a swiftness and a violence that had struck a note of fear and awe within him.

The dark figure had suddenly slammed the last of the remaining thugs against the wall. The thug had begun to whimper and beg for mercy, the purple dragon embroidered of his black leather jacket gleamed in the moonlight as the dark, hooded figure slammed the thug into the wall again and again. Mercilessly he had punched the thug a few times in the head. It was at that moment that Toshiro had realized that the hooded figure was going to kill the street thug.

Toshiro leapt from the rooftop, his own features hidden beneath a dark parka, hat and dark glasses across his eyes.

He had then called out to the figure warning him that he should stop what he was doing, or prepare to get his ass kicked.

The dark figure had growled for Toshiro to mind his own business and to just walk away. Toshiro had of course refused and pulled his hook swords from his back, crossing them threateningly in front of him.

The dark figure had moved so quickly. One moment he had been standing at the alley wall clutching the leather coat of the thug in his threatening grip, the next he had moved and Toshiro had to doge a sudden strike from twin sais.

Toshiro and the shadow clad figure began to circle each other like angry dogs before Toshiro launched himself at his attacker. Each blow he had struck was always countered. It was as if his opponent had exactly the same training and fighting skills as his own.

There was a noise, a faint scrape of something metallic upon pavement that came from behind him. Toshiro was suddenly hit by the dark clad stranger, knocking him sideways as the bark of a gun shattered the heavy silence of the night.

The dark clad figure had fallen heavily to the damp pavement of the alley with a muffled thud. Toshiro had managed to roll, springing to his feet and lashing out a quick kick disarming the gang member who had fired the gun.

The gang member had scrambled to his feet and ran from the alley as Toshiro turned his attention to the man who had been, only moments before, attacking him; and who, for some unknown reason, had throw himself in the way of a bullet, saving Toshiro's life.

Toshiro had taken a step towards the mouth of the alley, preparing to run before the police showed up, but found that his conscience wouldn't let him. He sighed and crouched down intent on seeing if the injured man was even still alive. He pulled the man's hood back and revealed the scarred and battle worn face of his uncle; an uncle who he had believed was long dead.

He had then dragged his semi-conscious and gravely injured uncle home, where he had hovered between life and death before making a slow and painful recovery. Though for some reason after his uncle had recovered he hadn't left and had decided to stay. This annoyed the hell out of everyone, especially his father.

"I'm not jumpy." Toshiro defended with a growl as he tried to keep his temper in check. He was thankful his uncle had saved his life, but that did not give his uncle the right to act like his father. He already had one of those and he didn't need another one.

"No?" His uncle asked smoothly as he gracefully stood, his black trench coat moving around him like a living creature.

Toshiro sighed. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be up, that's all." He grumbled.

"Your enemies will always want to catch you by surprise, Toshiro." His uncle growled softly.

Toshiro rubbed a tired hand across his eyes. "You sound like Dad, and I'm off duty."

"We don't get that kind of luxury." His uncle growled sternly.

"I go by Shade now, and stop telling me what to do." He snapped. "You aren't my father, and I don't want, or need your advice."

A low threatening growl sounded from deep within his uncle's chest as he stepped into the light. The soft light from the refrigerator glanced off of the metal mask which covered the entire left side of his uncle's face; which was apparently so badly scarred, that he never took the metal mask off, even when he was sleeping.

Silent menace rolled off of his uncle and Toshiro resisted the urge to take a step back against the anger that flowed off his uncle in waves of black fury.

Toshiro continued to glare at his uncle who glared back at him with his one blazing amber eye; an eye that was so much like his own eyes it creeped him out. His uncle's other eye was buried in within the black shadow confines of his metal mask. Toshiro knew that his uncle couldn't see out of his left eye, but was unsure if he still possessed his eye or if the mask was hiding a ruined mass of scarred, mangled flesh, and an empty eye socket. Over the mask and across both eyes his uncle wore his customary battered and frayed crimson fabric mask.

"Your...father will have your head if he finds out you took Sage out with you." His uncle growled at him.

"Does Sage look like my mom?" Toshiro asked suddenly, wondering if his sister was right about why she was always left at home while the rest of them went out on patrol.

His uncle froze, the blood draining slightly from his face as his uncle's lone eye slid shut -as if in pain- at Toshiro's question.

His uncle stepped back into deeper shadows without answering, but Toshiro was too furious to let his uncle just walk away.

"Why was it you?" He asked, pursuing a different question. "Why was it you who went searching for Mom?

His uncle remained silent which just infuriated him more. "I heard Uncle Mikey talking with Dad a long time ago. He said that you were still searching for our mom because you didn't think that she was dead. You and Uncle Mikey both disappeared for years looking for her. Uncle Mikey came back eventually, but you never did. But I think I remember seeing you when I was eight or nine...But Dad told us you were dead, so if you weren't dead, where were you?" Toshiro asked as anger began to rise from deep within him. "Dad said that Mom was dead, that she had died; so how come you didn't believe that she was dead? And if there was even a shred of proof that she was still alive why wasn't it Dad who went looking for her?" He asked angrily suddenly tired of what felt like a million secrets and questions about his Uncle's disappearance and the mystery of his mother and her death.

"You want answers kid, go ask your...father." The last word was more of a snarl mixed with a hiss than actual word. His Uncle slid deeper into the shadows of the darkened kitchen.

"Uncle, Raph." He called out desperately, wondering why talk of his mother bothered his Uncle so much, but he was gone. Toshiro clenched his fists together in anger. Furious he stalked out of the kitchen, no longer hungry. He strode into his room quietly closing the door behind him.

He looked at the interior of his room in irritation. He had plastered as many posters as he could in his room, trying to cover up the painted safari scene that covered his walls. He had wanted to paint over the baby nursery scene but his father had flatly told him 'No'. Toshiro wasn't sure why, but had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with his mother, what he wasn't sure.

Toshiro's eyes scanned his music posters and his eyes fell upon his electric guitar in the corner. His fingers twitched wanting to play, but knowing it was far too late, even on the quietest setting. He growled low in his throat and picked up the instrument anyway and threw himself on his bed to practice his cords.

He closed his eyes wondering what was worse; having a mother who had been killed when he was only three years old, or having a mother who had abandoned her family and had disappeared without a trace? He came to the conclusion that he wished that someone would just give him some answers, one way or the other, because he was no longer a child, and was tired of being treated like one.

* * *

**Raphael** stomped furiously into Donatello's lab. He closed his brother's door with a gentle but firm click, and resisted the urge to throw or kick something across the room in a furious rage once the door was shut. The only reason he was able to resist this urge was because he didn't want to wake the rest of the kids up.

"Rough night?" Donatello asked tiredly as he lifted his face from the old fashioned microscope he was looking into. "You know you shouldn't be overexerting yourself. Your wounds have fully healed but that doesn't mean you shouldn't still take it easy."

Raphael's only answer was to growl low in his throat before he was finally able to calm down enough that he was able to form coherent words.

"I hate this, Donny!" He hissed out angrily, ignoring his brother's concern over his health. "I should damn well be able to tell my own kid what the hell to do!" He snapped, barely able to restrain himself from yelling.

"You don't have any kids, Raph, remember?" His brother said stiffly as he walked out from behind his lab table. There was the faint sound of hydraulics that came from his brother's bionic leg and arm as he crossed his arms over his chest. Raphael was unable to see his brother's bionic leg, covered as it was with his jeans, but Raphael was able to see his brother's metal bionic hand that was lightly resting on his other arm.

The sight of his brother's mechanical limb brought a rush of memories to the surface. He remembered the events of that night so vividly, that the memories still had the ability to wake him up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, a strangled scream of horror resting on his lips.

Raphael had regained consciousness sometime during the frantic truck ride home. He had been nothing but a giant ball of agonized nerve endings; each filling him with a blazing inferno of white hot agony that tore through every cell in his body.

It wasn't until later that he had found out what had happened to everyone. Donatello had nearly bled to death as Holly, assisted by Michelangelo, had tried to stem the flow of blood. She had tied off all of the major blood vessels and arteries and amputating what was left of Donatello's shattered leg leaving a stump that ended just above his knee. Donatello's arm had not fared much better. His hand and most of his forearm had been blown off and they had to take off what was left of his arm up to the shoulder joint.

Raphael shifted his gaze away from his brother's cool, accusatory eyes. "I never gave them up, Donny." Raphael ground out through clenched teeth.

"No, but you decided to go gallivanting around the world for five years. FIVE YEARS, Raph. By the time you came back Toshiro was nine, Sage was eight and the twins were seven. The twins barely knew you when you left and when you came back, none of them even remembered who you were! Mikey came back after 2 years but you stayed gone. As far as I am concerned, you abandoned those kids."

Raphael narrowed his eye in barely contained fury. "You think I wanted to be gone for all those years?" Raphael hissed angrily as he took a threatening step towards his younger brother. "I had no choice, but when I had finally decided to come back home...Well, you know what happened? Or do you?" Raphael questioned his brother with a low growl. "You turned against me, Donny. My own brother! I needed someone to understand why I was gone for five years, but no one would even listen to me." He said with a note of accusation in his voice.

Donny sighed loudly and uncrossed his arms, his voice gentling slightly as he walked towards Raphael. "I'm sorry, Raph. Things...things got out of hand." Donny said apologetically. "We should have at least listened to you. But...we waited for you to come back, but you never did. It's been over ten years since you left this last time, and you never contacted us once. We honestly thought that you...we thought that you were...dead." Donatello whispered miserably.

Raphael snorted. "I'm hard to kill." He snarled contemptuously.

Donatello gave a faint nod and they both fell into silence for a moment, each buried within their own dark thoughts and private hells.

"Where have you been, Raph?" Donatello finally asked him. "Fifteen years is a long time to be away from home and just expect to come back."

Raphael studied his brother's aged face. His brother looked older than he remembered. Deeper worry and age lines had been etched into his brother's face, but Raphael knew that he looked older than his brother, grief having stripped away too many years from him already.

"I've been around, Donny." Raphael said with a one shouldered shrug. "Just because I wasn't allowed to see my kids doesn't mean I didn't keep an eye on them, and my brothers."

"I'm sorry, Raph." Donatello apologized quietly. "I really am, for everything."

Raphael turned his face away from his brother's raw gaze. Raphael was about to tell his brother that Donatello didn't understand anything, but he managed to bite back the words. Instead he looked back at his brother and gave a curt nod and turned to leave.

"Raph..." His brother's voice stopped him. He looked over his shoulder at his brother with his good eye. "Did you...did you really think that...that Katherine was still alive, all those years?" Donatello asked quietly.

Raphael closed his eyes against the pain that blossomed in his heart at the sound of Katherine's name. His brother's had never asked him the reason he had been gone for so long. They knew that he had come up empty handed, but they had never asked him _why_ he had been away so long. To them the 'why' hadn't been important, only the fact that he had been gone.

He turned and fully looked at his brother. "For five years I hoped, and I searched, but...I don't know Donny... I think I knew, deep down, that I was looking for nothing more than a ghost." He whispered miserably. "It was hard to coming back and facing...to admit that I was wrong." He shook his head with regret. "I had failed, but I needed to come back because I knew that the last link I had to...to Her...were our kids. The kids who I had left without a single thought. I was too consumed by a promise, and the need to either find Her alive, find her body, or find and punish those who were responsible for taking her away from us." He answered truthfully in a barely audible voice. "Even now the thought that She is buried in some shallow grave somewhere where no one will ever find her..." Raphael's voice broke as painful remembrance rose up and choked him.

Donatello nodded sadly. "Raph...we can't change the past." Donatello began softly. "I think we all wish that we could change things." Donatello said as he looked down at his metal hand, which he clenched into a quick fist. "But we can't. What is done is done, but maybe...maybe it is time to ask yourself; what would Katherine want?"

Raphael looked at his brother and felt his heart constrict even more. He felt tears well up in his eye as he thought about Katherine, and he had to close his eye against the sorrow and pity he would see reflected in his brother's eyes.

"Maybe you should..." Donatello paused briefly before continuing. "Go talk to Leo, Raph." Donatello said to him quietly. "I think it's about time, don't you?" His brother inquired softly.

* * *

**I know, I know, I am so evil;) Everyone is no doubt screaming at their computers going WTF!**

**But I hope you enjoyed anyway:)**

**Thoughts and opinions are always welcome!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A giant thank you to Amonraphoenix for her lovely editing skills, her great ideas, support and her unbridaled enthusiasm for this story. Also a big giant thank you to Dondena, who also lent her mad editing skills to this chapter!**

**And a big shout out to my reviewers Diana Fay, chibiwolf33, mela989898 and I love Kittens too! Thank you for your support!**

**I hope everyone enjoys this chapter:)**

* * *

Chapter 2

**Raphael** made his way from Donatello's lab, his mind in turmoil as he reviewed his brother's words in his head. His shoulders slumped as he walked to the shrine that had been set up; in the beginning, just for Master Splinter. Now, too many wooden markers sat upon the low wooden table.

Raphael crouched down in front of the markers, lighting the two candles, one on each side of the line of six inch long by three inch wide wooden markers. Lastly he lit the stick of incense, and breathed in the comforting scent of sandalwood.

He closed his eyes as he gathered his chaotic thoughts. It had been so long since he had done this that he felt as if he shouldn't; that any who he would talk to wouldn't listen to him, even if he tried. Though he wasn't even sure if he believed that any loved ones were looking out for him after death. For all he knew you just ceased to exist when you died and he would be wasting his time talking to thin air, but Donatello was right. He needed to talk.

"I'm sorry." He began softly. He had never apologized, not once for the events that had occurred that night. After fifteen years, he would have thought that he should have apologized earlier, but he hadn't allowed himself to, because he had always believed he would be able to find the ones responsible for the deaths, destruction and devastation that had occurred that one fateful, hellish night.

"I failed you, all of you." He whispered, his voice breaking slightly as he felt tears well up in his eye. He knew he had failed, but it still hurt to say the word out loud, because it tore his heart to shreds, and made him feel as if he was drowning in too much guilt, too much lost time, and too many regrets.

He opened his eye and scanned each marker in turn. There was Master Splinter, his name was inscribed in both Japanese and English. Someone had recently re-painted the kanji and letters in black. His eyes scanned his own marker which was surprisingly still there; even though his family knew that he was alive. His name had also been re-painted in dark crimson. He smiled slightly at this until his eye fell upon the name of Donatello's daughter, written in dark purple; who had never even made it into the world.

They had named her Jacqueline Rose Hamato. If she had lived, she would have been sixteen years old. Instead, she was buried beside Master Splinter in a small clearing on Casey's grandmother's farm.

Raphael moved to the next marker. Katherine's first name was written in silver and below her name were the words; _Nobilitas, Animosus, Perseverantia._ Nobility, Courage and Perseverance. Katherine had possessed all of those qualities in spades, plus too many more to list on the small wooden marker. His heart clenched in pain as his eyes moved to the next marker.

Barry Theodore Milton was written in dark blue letters and beside his marker was Rudy Deon Winter's in dark green. It had not just been Katherine who had lost her life that night, so had their two new friends.

"Why are you here, Raph?" Leonardo's angry voice drifted over his shoulder. Raphael had heard him coming. Much like the noise from Donatello's bionic leg made Donatello's presence easily known, so too was Leonardo's uneven gait. He had almost lost his limp, until the explosion had re-damaged his leg and arm, to the extent that his limp was permanent, and his left arm was weaker than his right. But Leonardo's steps were still silent, only Raphael's acute hearing and his knowledge of his brother's impairment allowed him to detect the faint approach of his older brother.

Raphael ignored his brother for the moment because he wasn't done yet. He closed his eye and allowed himself to think about Katherine, which was something he tried not to do. It usually was too painful, but he decided to embrace the pain and asked the question that Donatello had asked. _What would Katherine want? _It seemed ridiculous that what Katherine would have wanted had never entered his mind, or his brother's. Not once had they ever stopped to think about their reactions, or the consequences of their actions. All they had done was acted selfishly, fulfilling their own needs and desires... never hers.

He opened his eye and stared at the markers in front of him.

"Why is my marker still sitting here, Leo?" Raphael asked quietly. He had been crashing on the couch in the lair for the past four months, his room having been given to Ryu and Sage many, many years ago.

Leonardo let out a huff of irritation before finally speaking. "What's the point of taking the marker down when I will only have to put it back up again." Leonardo snapped out angrily in a cold - almost uncaring - voice.

Raphael didn't even flinch at the harshly spoken words, instead anger welled up from within him taking every ounce of his self control to push down. Instead he replied mockingly. "Heh, I see you've finally managed to grow a fucking pair, congratulations. That mean you're gonna finish the job right this time?"

He heard a swift, sharp intake of breath from behind him, but Leonardo made no reply to Raphael's taunting words.

Raphael picked up his marker and stood, finally turning and facing his older brother. Leonardo stepped into the dim light. The flickering candle flame barely illuminating the side of his brother's aged face.

Leonardo was wearing a dark blue hoodie and jeans, proof that he hadn't been to bed yet. Though Raphael knew that the hoodie and jeans served another purpose altogether; and that was to cover the massive amount of scarring that covered his brother's body. Leonardo would never again wear a t-shirt or go bare-chested. Although Raphael couldn't say anything, since he never would either. It was hard to say whose scars were worse.

Nearly eighty five percent of Leo's body had been burned. He had been so badly burned that Holly had put him into a medically induced coma for eight months, just so he wouldn't suffer the agony of recovering from the extensive skin grafts he had needed to survive. Most of the second and third degree burns had been located on the backs of Leonardo's legs, arms and carapace. His face and plastron had not suffered burns as serious. His brother's plastron had suffered extensive damage though. Leonardo's plastron always put Raphael in mind of a cracked windshield or a spider web with tiny cracks shooting off in different directions because of the beam that had fallen onto his brother and squashed him flat like a bug. A scar ran the entire length of Leonardo's carapace where his shell had shattered from the weight of the heavy steel beam, with large chunks of shell pulling away from his flesh during their rescue efforts.

They had learned much later that there had thankfully been no spinal damage, but at the time Donatello and Holly both doubted that Leonardo would ever walk again. Though at that point Leonardo just surviving his horrific injuries had seemed impossible at the time. Especially given that Leonardo had suffered a skull fracture that had led to severe internal swelling and bleeding on the brain. Donatello had feared that if Leonardo was killed outright by this, that he could be permanently brain damaged.

Of course these had just been the worst of Leonardo's injuries. He had also suffered a broken left collar bone, several broken ribs on both sides, a broken right forearm, shattered left shoulder blade, and his bad leg had been so badly mangled that Donatello had thought he would have to amputate it. Luckily Donatello and Holly had managed to save his leg, but not without extensive and disfiguring scarring to the limb.

Leonardo's injuries had taken the longest to heal and Raphael had sat beside his brother for the entire time, even though his need to find Katherine burned hotly within him. He had waited until Leonardo had completely healed; which had taken nearly a full year. Twelve long months, of hoping and praying that his brother would not only survive, but make a full recovery.

Raphael angrily clutched his marker tightly in his hand. The wood began to creak ominously in his scarred hands. Raphael suddenly snapped the wooden marker over his thigh and threw it into a nearby corner.

Leonardo narrowed his dark eyes dangerously, but remained stubbornly silent.

"I'm here to stay, Leo." Raphael growled. "And there ain't nothin' you can do about it; unless of course you want to continue where we left off last time. I think it was...oh yeah, I remember, you slit my throat." Raphael mocked as he lifted up his chin and pulled the collar of his trench coat aside, laying bare the long, knotty scar that slashed viciously across his throat to bury itself in the dark, knotted scar tissue that ran the length of his left side.

Leonardo visibly flinched at the glaring display of the scar and at his bitter, mocking words. Leonardo glanced away hanging his head in shame and guilt for his actions that had nearly cost him his brother's life that night.

"You nearly killed me the last time I was here." Raphael snarled, taking a menacing step towards his brother. "And you never even told anyone what you did to me, did you?" He accused, jabbing a finger at Leonardo's plastron.

Leonardo closed his eyes as he gave a slight shake of his head. Raphael advanced on Leonardo pulling his sais from his belt as he slammed Leonardo against the far wall.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Raphael growled as he raised his sai to Leonardo's throat. "You'd let me kill you, wouldn't you, Leo?" Raphael asked, resting the sharp point of his sai against the soft flesh of Leonardo's bared throat. He pressed hard enough to draw a single drop of crimson blood, as he put his mouth close to his brother's ear, whispering the question.

Leonardo refused to look him in the eye. "You've made your point, Raph, your bullet wound has completely healed; don't you have somewhere else you need to be?" Leonardo hissed, finally looking at him, eyes narrowed in irritation.

Raphael resisted the urge to rub the spot over his plastron where the bullet had pierced his chest, punctured his lung and excited out his carapace. His recovery had been agonizingly long and extremely painful, but Leonardo had been unable to kick him out; especially since he had saved Toshiro's life. Though he would have thought his son would be a little more grateful for taking a bullet for him. But Toshiro just seemed to find his presence annoying and irritating. Which brought his mind back to the matter at hand.

"We have unfinished business, Leo. Very unfinished business that shoulda been settled ten years ago." Raphael ground out through clenched teeth as he pulled away slightly, removing his sai from his brother's throat and tucking it back into his belt. He continued, "Do I make you feel guilty? Is that why you're wanting me gone, huh? You're glad I'm alive, but you can't stand seein' my mug around cause I remind you of the monster you became for just that one split second; a split second where you turned into me?"

"I've learned to control my emotions, Raph, okay." Leonardo growled as he pushed Raphael's shoulder forcing him to step away slightly.

"Well that's good to know." Raphael was on the verge of mocking his brother but instead leveled off his voice and added seriously. "I'm glad that you got things sorted out." Raphael finished quietly. "That beam cracked you open like a nutcracker to a nut. I suppose you're lucky your noggin wasn't mashed worse than it was..." Raphael let the sentence hang but Leonardo only closed his eyes and nodded slightly.

"You still getting the spasms?" Raphael asked gently, his voice filled with genuine concern.

Leonardo seemed to freeze for a moment before finally confirming Raphael's suspicions by slowly nodding 'yes'. Leonardo looked Raphael in the eye again. "I'm sorry, Raph." Leonardo closed his eyes and hung his head before opening his eyes, but refusing to look Raphael in the eye. "But you can't stay here. Not anymore..." He whispered in a wretched voice.

"You took away my kids, Leo." Raphael hissed as he took a threatening step towards Leonardo again.

"You abandoned them, Raph." Leonardo snarled in renewed anger, his head jerking up to look Raphael straight in the eye.

"Yeah, you know what, I did. You're right. I left my kids to go searching for...for...Her and I came back empty handed. But you never asked me 'Why?' Why was I gone for so damn long? You just assumed I had spent that long lookin' for Her, and if I couldn't find Her, that I was hell bent on getting revenge on whoever had killed Her, Barry and Deon. You never once asked if there was another reason."

"There was no other reason!" Leonardo exclaimed as he threw up his hands in angry exasperation. "I felt her die, Raph, okay? I felt her heart stop. You just never believed me!" Leonardo shouted angrily.

"Her heart's stopped before, doesn't mean she was dead." Raphael bellowed.

"Raph, we both felt that there was something wrong. We both _knew_ that she was injured, and then she was just...gone. She died that night Raphael, I felt it."

"I was unconscious. I didn't feel anything! And I loved her just as much as you did!" Raphael snarled as shook his head in frustration. "Besides, your head had just been cracked open like a walnut. You don't even know if what you felt was real, or if it was somethin' your head was just makin' up!" Raphael shouted back.

Leonardo glared at Raphael and placed a finger to his lips. Raphael held onto his temper, not wanting to wake the kids.

"Then if she's still alive, why hasn't she come back, huh, Raph?" Leonardo snapped quietly.

Raphael closed his eye and took a deep breath. "Shelia made me promise to look for, Her." Raphael told his brother quietly.

Leonardo's eyes widened in surprise. "Her... mother asked you...?" Leonardo looked at Raphael in confusion.

Raphael shrugged. "The Wraith family and the Milton family spent years, poured tons of money into lookin' for Barry, Deon, and... Her; alive or dead. I promised Sheila that I would find Her, either way... and that I wouldn't come back until I had." Raphael finished softly. "I didn't think I would be gone so long!" Raphael shook his head with regret, as he forced himself to continue. "The kids all had you and Donnie. Mikey came with me cause he felt as if he owed it to me cause I jumped in front of him during the explosion, and you weren't in any condition to do anything. I knew the kids and you guys would be fine. But Sheila begged me, and I was so... heartbroken and angry... not thinkin' straight I guess. I kept havin' these nightmares, still have 'em. Thinkin' about what could've happened to Her. Was her death swift? Was she tortured to death slowly before she died? Did she know that the missile hit us before they killed her, just to taunt her? I have no idea. All I know is that someone sent a text from Her phone, settin' us up and nearly killing us all in the process. And in the end, the Wraith and the rest of the Ghost Squad, vanished into thin air." Raphael shook his head trying to re-order his thoughts. "And I finally came back when..." Raphael left his sentence to hang.

"When Sheila died." Leonardo finished his sentence for him in shock.

Raphael gave a curt nod. "Her mom died of a broken heart and after her death, I figured there was nothing left for me to keep looking for. I could have kept searching for the rest of my life, but... I missed home. I missed my sons and daughters and I missed my brothers. I just wanted to watch my kids grow up, because I realized that they are all I had left of... Her."

Anger and misery roared through Raphael as he remembered his homecoming ten years ago_. _

_Leonardo had been furious of Raphael's apparent abandonment of their family. Leonardo had begun yelling and Michelangelo and Donatello had herded the children into Donatello's sound proof lab. Raphael had tried to explain why he had been gone for so long, but Leonardo had refused to listen. That Leonardo had still been grief-stricken was painfully obvious, but Leonardo had allowed his anger and the perceived betrayal towards the children to get the better of him. _

_Leonardo had told Raphael that he no longer had any right to the children, that they did not know who he was and that since he had left he had given up any right to have the children call him 'father.' Raphael had been dumbfounded, but determined to sway his brother's mind and prove to him that he could still be a good father. But that was when Leonardo had informed him that Donatello agreed with Leonardo's judgement, and that the children needed a stable influence and environment to grow up in. If Raphael decided to disappear again, at least the children wouldn't feel as if they had not lost their father, like they had lost their mother. Instead they would only lose an uncle that they didn't even know. _

_Raphael had been livid. He couldn't believe that his own brothers would turn on him, but they had. He had fought with Leonardo, bringing Katherine's name into their fight which had only driven his brother into a greater fury. Leonardo had then accused Raphael of being responsible for Katherine's death, because Raphael had been the one who had let Katherine become the Wraith and join the Ghost Squad in the first place. And because of that, Katherine had ended up dead._

_Raphael couldn't even remember who had thrown the first punch, it was probably him, but it had begun as an all out, bloody brawl, which quickly evolved into a death match._

_Raphael was so hurt by his brother's accusations that he had been beyond reason. The worst part of it though, had been the belief that Leonardo's accusations had been right. That he had abandoned his children, and that Katherine's death had been entirely his fault._

_Raphael had loosened his grip on his sais, admitting defeat, but his brother did not stop in his anger fueled attack. _

_Raphael had know that his brother's emotions were unstable, had know it from before he had left five years earlier due to the brain injury Leonardo had suffered. But Donatello had been working with Leonardo to try to get him to re-teach himself how to control his temper, and the extreme fluctuations in mood. Donatello had succeeded, but Raphael's presence had aggravated his brother to such a degree that Leonardo was no longer in control of his rage._

_Raphael had realized - too late - that his brother was beyond reason, and Raphael was defending his very life against Leonardo's honed and deadly blades. It had happened so fast that Raphael hadn't even realized what had happened until a strange warmth flowed down his skin and over his plastron. He looked down at the blood that had soaked his t-shirt, and looked at Leonardo in shock _

_Raphael tried to keep himself upright, but ended up sliding slowly to the ground. His breathing began coming out in short, painful, gurgling gasps. He pressed one hand against the wound, trying to stem the flow of crimson that poured forth from his throat. _

_Leonardo stared at him in horrified shock, as Raphael had slumped to the ground in a bloody heap._

_Leonardo dashed to his brother's side, dropping heavily to his knees next to Raphael's still form."Raph, oh God, what have I done?" He had whispered in horror. "Raph, I'm so sorry." Leonardo had sobbed, pulling Raphael into his arms as tears coursed silently down his cheeks. Leonardo's hand flew to Raphael's injured throat covering, Raphael's hand with his own, trying to stem the flow of blood that oozed out from the gaping wound._

_Leonardo had called out desperately for Donatello, but Donatello had not come, so Leonardo had gone in search of him, begging Raphael desperately to apply pressure to his wound, and promising to be back with Donatello._

_Raphael had shakily stood up from the bloody pool he was laying in, and stumbled from the lair as fast as he was able to. The thought of dying on the floor in the lair had horrified him. His children did not need to be exposed to that grief and trauma... or the knowledge that Leonardo - their father- had slain his own brother. _

_Raphael had finally curled up in a passageway and thought about just pulling his hand away and ending it all. But the thought of just giving up on living filled him with too much bitter grief. He had eventually managed to stem the flow of blood and sew the flesh of his neck closed with a small first aid kit that he always carried around in his trench coat pocket. Then he had let his head fall to the grimy floor, too exhausted to even move. But Raphael had realized, even before he had closed his weary eyes, that he had to vanish from his brother's and his children's lives. Leonardo words and accusations had been absolutely right. He had abandoned his children and gotten Katherine killed._

Leonardo stared at him before speaking in a ragged whisper. "I thought I had killed you. I looked for you, we all did. We followed the trail of blood throughout the tunnels until the blood trail just stopped at a deep section of water that led to a huge waterfall. We searched, but we were unable to find you. Mikey nearly drown at the base of the falls looking for your body." He said softly. "I tried to convince Mikey that you were still alive, tried to keep his spirits up, and get him to eat and sleep. I don't think he would have been able to recover from the thought of losing a brother if it wasn't for the kids. But he pushed himself and managed to pull himself together for them. But eventually... we finally gave you up for dead a long time ago, and if it wasn't for the vow that I gave to... to Her, I would have ended my life long ago for the fratricide I believed I had committed." Leonardo said wretchedly. He seemed to collect himself for a moment before continuing. "It's been ten years, Raph, so why are you here now?" Leonardo asked quietly.

Raphael flinched at the thought that Michelangelo had so desperately searched for him that it had nearly cost him his life. Michelangelo had never said anything about that; only hugging him close and promising that he was going to beat the crap out of Raphael later, when he was healed.

Raphael decided that he and Michelangelo also needed to sit down and talk, but later, right now, this was about Leonardo and himself. "Like I said, Leo, you and me got unfinished business. I spent a lot of years thinking. Not that this helped any, cause I've never been big on the whole thinking thing. But I was curious about what you told Mikey and Donny? You must have told them that I had been hurt bad, what with the amount of blood that musta been on the ground. That our fight had gotten a little too intense and that I must have just run to get away, but instead slipped into a rived and went over the waterfall and drown. Although since you didn't actually find my body you probably still secretly hoped that I was alive somewhere. But gave up after too many years passed; thinking that even if I had survived you trying to kill me, that I met my end somewhere else."

Raphael looked at Leonardo's face for confirmation of his observation and got a slight nod of agreement from his brother. "I've been around, Leo. I've been back for a few months now, but I have always come back to check in on things every now and then. Just to make sure everything was alright. I hadn't planned on comin' back and staying. You were right. I abandoned my kids, and was responsible for Her death. But then I got stuck here for the last four months and I realized that... I was done with running from the past. But I was gonna leave. I was okay with being 'uncle' Raph, but then I realized that I am **not** okay with that. But I wasn't gonna say nothin' cause I know I didn't deserve to, but Donny said something to me that changed my mind."

"Raph..." Leonardo began warningly.

"No, Leo, you listen to me." Raphael growled sharply, cutting his brother off. "I am a self centered, selfish son of a bitch, and I'm okay with that. But I realized that you and me, we've been acting like the biggest pair of selfish, self centered assholes that were ever hatched."

Leonardo's mouth fell open slightly as Raphael continued. "We lost everything that night Leo. All of us did." Raphael hissed out angrily. "We **ALL** lost Katherine." He managed to choke out her name, and Leonardo visibly flinched at the sound of her name. "Donny lost his arm, leg _and_ Ivy. Ivy couldn't stand the thought of losing Donny; and she was too scared to be a part of a world where at any moment everyone that she loved could die, including herself. And Donny was so bitter and angry when he woke up and found out that he had lost his arm and leg that he pushed Ivy away. He became obsessed with trying to create himself new cyborg limbs so that he wouldn't be dependent on everyone for every little thing." Raphael shook his head sadly. "Holly and Ivy both blamed us for Katherine's death, but Holly stuck around a little longer than Ivy. But... because Mikey was with me trying to find Katherine... Mikey went back home when he found out that Holly was leaving him, but it was too late to forgive Mikey's being away for so long." Raphael paused before continuing. "And I was so consumed with what everyone had lost, and who was to blame for everything that had happened to us, that I didn't realize how stupid it was. I realized that...it shouldn't have ever been about us. But because we are selfish assholes we made it all about us."

"It was all about us!" Leonardo shot back angrily.

"No, it wasn't." Raphael replied softly, his voice gentling. "Katherine's death shouldn't have broken us. Our injuries healed and we still had a family; but we all broke because we were all too busy pointing fingers, searching for ghosts and turning our anger on each other to understand that... that we should have asked ourselves... what would Katherine want?"

Leonardo's eyes widened in shock before he shook his head angrily. "Don't you think I haven't asked myself that a million times, Raph? I have asked myself what would...what would Katherine say... what would she do in this situation? And even though I know what her answer would have been, I can never seem to follow them. Because without her here... it's like her answers never make any sense!" Tears had welled up in Leonardo's eyes and he brushed them away quickly.

Raphael sighed. "Katherine would have wanted us to be happy and do the best that we could." Raphael told his brother softly. "She wouldn't have wanted us to look for her, or get revenge, or fight. She would have wanted us to just try to do our best, and try to be happy without her. So simple and yet... apparently impossible for us to do, cause we just screw things up, and make a big mess of things."

Leonardo's shoulders slumped as he nodded his head in agreement. "Raph, do you even understand how hard it would be to tell the children that both you and I are their fathers plural? If Katherine was here... If Katherine was here it would have been easier. They would have maybe been able to understand the type of relationship that we had with her, but with her not being here and you being gone for 15 years..." Leonardo shook his head. "Just leave things the way they are, Raph... it's for the best."

"I'm here now, Leo, and I intend to stay for good. But like I said, I'm an ass, and I always mess things up, and I can't ever just listen to what Katherine says or respect her wishes, cause that's just the way I am." Raphael replied, his voice thick and husky with raw emotion.

Leonardo frowned in confusion laced with suspicion. "What are you going to do?" Leonardo asked uncertainly, not knowing where his brother was going with his line of thought.

"I want the kids to know that I'm their father too, but I ain't gonna rock that boat just yet." Raphael shook his head. "Because of her health, Karai's empire is faltering. The gangs are beginning to get restless, and she's having a hard time trying to control the infighting that has begun, as each gang leader vies for being the heir to Karai's empire."

Leonardo sighed. "I know, Raph." Leonardo said tiredly as he rubbed a hand over his face, looking every one of his 45 years.

"Almost twenty years ago, the same damn thing happened, and now it's happening again." Raphael told his brother.

"Raph, Karai is handling it. She's appointing her second in command, Kaeden Shelton, to run Saki enterprises and her underground interests." Leonardo informed him.

"Yeah, but not all the gangs think Kaeden Shelton can handle things. There have been seven high profile murders in the last few weeks that have the gangs blaming each other for the murders. This has strained the tension between the gangs into a boiling pot of contention and suspicion. It will only take one more thing to send this city into a full out war zone; that you know the kids will be dragged into the middle of."

Leonardo growled, "I won't let the kids get involved."

"That ain't my point, Leo..." Raphael began with a shake of his head, and narrowed his eye at his brother. "You don't know, do you? Raphael asked in shock. "Where have you been getting your news lately, Leo?" Raphael asked suspiciously.

"Donny listens to a police scanner most of the time." Leonardo answered in confusion.

"When was the last time you actually read a paper, or watched the news?" Raphael asked.

Leonardo shook his head. "I don't know, Raph. Why?"

"So you were just gonna leave Leo in the dark, Donny?" Raphael questioned as he looked towards the door where Donatello finally revealed himself; stepping into the flickering light and shadows of the candles.

"He doesn't need to know." Donatello growled defensively.

Raphael pulled a battered newspaper from within the folds of his jacket.

"Raph!" Donatello hissed out a warning as Leo's gaze flew back and forth between Raphael and Donatello in growing agitation.

"What happened the last time Karai's power wavered; from the point of view of the gangs?" Raphael asked Leonardo ignoring Donatello's warning.

"A gang war erupted and there was a planned hostile takeover and the gangs were forced to choose sides." Leonardo answered quickly.

"Yeah, and what kept the gangs in line? What threat besides retribution from Karai kept all those gangs in line when the dust settled and the Face was dead?" Raphael prodded.

Leonardo frowned in thought and then paled as the answer came to him. Raphael threw the paper at his brother who quickly caught it, unfolded it and read the small article on the front page.

"Yeah, someone's impersonating The Wraith." Raphael whispered softly to his shocked big brother.

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**Thoughts and opinions are always welcome!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello all, so a big giant thank you as always to Amonraphoenix! for Beta reading this chapter and for letting me pick her brain and bounce ideas off of her, and for her own great ideas. Also a big thank you to Dondena for taking the time and beta reading this chapter as well, greatly appreciated:)**

**A big thank you to Chibiwolf33, I love Kittens too, and Diana Fay for your lovely review, and for mela989898 who tried to review but fanfic would not let her...**

**and now on with the show:)**

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Chapter 3

**Leonardo** lay his head wearily down on his pillow and reviewed what had happened this evening.

He had been shocked that his brother would keep him in the dark for so long about someone impersonating Katherine, though he supposed he shouldn't be overly surprised. Donatello had always worried about his delicate mental state since Katherine's death, the accident, and his subsequent brain damage. However, it had been many, many years since he had lost control of his emotions. _Ten years in fact._ He thought to himself in shame.

After Katherine's death, he had been inconsolable. The only thing that had allowed him to go on day after day when he had finally healed from his devastating injuries had been their children. Raphael had -by this time- already left, hell bent on finding Katherine alive, or seeking revenge for her death. At the time, Leonardo had no idea what was going on with his hot-headed brother. All he knew was that Raphael had abandoned their family in their time of need.

_Leonardo looked at Donatello in shock. "How long were you going to keep this from me, Donny? Leonardo had whispered._

_"I was protecting you!" Donatello defended himself angrily. "Dealing with the gangs is bad enough without having to deal with more rumours and... and someone impersonating... And someone impersonating Katherine."_

Mention of Her name still had the ability to send shooting pains straight through his heart, and crush his lungs so tightly that he could barely breathe. He had been unable to protect the woman he loved, and because of that, she had been killed; another failure to add to his of growing failures that cost a most precious life.

_Leonardo's gaze had flown to Raphael's in silent, agonizing question._

_"No, I don't think it's her, Leo." Raphael had answered sadly. "She's dead, and I accepted that a long time ago." Raphael seemed to take a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. "I am more curious who it is, and why they are suddenly pretending to be the Wraith. Is it a prank, a warning? I'm not sure. But there were rumours filtering up from the underworld, and then a sighting of the Wraith made the news. That's when I decided that it was time to come home."Raphael finished softly. He had looked at Leonardo, as anguish rolled around in his amber eye. _

_Leonardo had wavered on his feet a little before steadying himself. A brief flash of hope, that somehow Katherine had still been alive, was quickly extinguished. He knew that Katherine was dead. He had felt her die, and yet somehow, he still foolishly clung to the blind hope that somehow she was alive. After all, they had never found her body; or the bodies of Barry and Deon either. But it was most likely that they had been disposed of, very neatly somewhere, where their bodies would not be easily discovered, if at all. _

_Leonardo briefly thought about going to Karai for information, but rejected the idea as too dangerous. Karai was dying after a long battle with cancer, and had enough problems on her plate. Unlike most of the criminal organizations of the city, Karai was the only one who knew that they had all managed to survive the blast. Though, with their children going out on patrol at night, and breaking up various muggings and robberies, it would not be long before the rest of the criminal element of the city would connect the dots, and figure out that they were very much alive._

_Raphael had continued to talk. His brother wanted to track the Wraith down and find out who he or she was, and what the hell they were up too. Leonardo was not opposed to the idea, but Donatello was firmly set against it. He saw no reason to stir up trouble; especially with the city perched precariously on the brink of a possible gang war._

_Leonardo knew that Donatello did not wish for the children to get involved; and both Raphael and he had agreed that their children would not be involved at all. This meant that for the time being, all patrols and forays topside would be curtailed until the Wraith and gang situation sorted itself out._

_They had discussed and come up with a plan. Tomorrow night they would scour the city, looking for any signs of the 'Wraith'. They would also be able to judge the tension and probability for violence that may erupt between the gangs._

Shooting pain suddenly shot through Leonardo's left forearm as the muscle spasmed. He clutched it in pain and struggled to sit up; his bad leg stiffening from being immobile for so long. He massaged his arm hoping that the painful spasm would stop soon.

Leonardo sighed in resignation, knowing that he had overdone it in his training today. There was always a fine line between overdoing it, and strengthening his weakened muscles. It was a difficult balance that he had not been able to master; even after fourteen years.

Leonardo opened and closed his hand a few times as the spasms finally dissipated. He slowly stood up from his bed and walked into the hallway. He had begun sleeping in their meditation room many years ago, when the children had all required their own space; at least as much as could be given.

Toshiro still had his room from when he was a baby, Ryu and Sage shared Raphael's old room, and Ren slept in Donatello's old room. Donatello preferred sleeping in his lab, and Michelangelo was the only one who still slept in his old room on the upper level.

Leonardo made his way to his children's bedrooms, intent on making sure that everyone was in bed and sleeping as they should be. He passed by the shrine that had been set up for their deceased loved ones, and he stopped in front of it. He looked towards the living room, knowing that Raphael would be sleeping fitfully on the couch by now.

Leonardo had heard his brother cry out in the middle of the night, waking up from some nightmare that plagued his soul. They were probably the same nightmares that woke Leonardo up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, his body shaking with the exertions of trying to save the woman he loved from an unknown fate; and failing miserably.

Leonardo knelt down in front of the markers and apologized to Katherine for what felt like the millionth time. He stared at the silver letters of her name and wondered what she would think of him now. He wondered if she was looking out for, and over them; and if she had wept when he had nearly killed Raphael ten years ago.

He closed his eyes as shame clawed its way through his body and buried itself deep into his heart. He was thankful that Raphael was alive. He knew he hadn't treated Raphael fairly in the past, or the present, but his brother's current presence bothered him, for exactly the reason Raphael had pointed out; because his brother made him feel guilty.

If Leonardo had been able to take the honourable way out, he would have. But he had promised Katherine that he would never assuage his honour by taking his own life again, and it was the one promise to her that he intended to keep.

"What would you do?" He asked her softly, even though he already knew her answer. She would run out, heedless of the danger and try to discover who was impersonating her, because that was who she was. She was curious by nature, a trait that most likely contributed to her untimely death. However, the question had a double meaning. He wondered what she would do in regards to Raphael, and his decision to tell the children of his and Leonardo's very complicated relationship with their mother.

He could almost hear her angry voice now, her green eyes narrowed into angry slits of fury for what he had done to Raphael. Besides nearly killing him and driving him from their home, he had taken away Raphael's children as well.

Leonardo burned with regrets. He had too many of those on his shoulders, and yet somehow knew that Katherine would tell him to 'make it right'. The problem was that Leonardo didn't know how to fix what he had broken so long ago. Telling the children that Raphael was also their father was tantamount to telling them that their entire lives had been one massive lie. It would rip their family to shreds and drive them apart. He did not want his children looking at him with hurt, betrayal and mistrust in their eyes.

He sighed as he stood, catching his breath in a quick intake of breath as his bad leg threatened to give out under him. He massaged the stiff muscle and cursed softly under his breath.

"She ever answer you, Leo?" Raphael's voice gruffly asked from over his shoulder.

Leonardo let go of his leg, but did not turn to face his brother. "No." He answered wretchedly. "I always thought it was my punishment for killing you. Maybe it's my punishment for nearly killing you and taking everything away from you." He muttered softly.

Raphael suddenly placed his hand on Leonardo's shoulder, spinning him around so that he would have no choice but to look Raphael straight in the eye.

"I almost did the exact same thing to you, Leo, remember?" He growled softly. "My sai sliced open your neck, so I think we are even. As for taking away everything, I blame whoever shot that missile into that warehouse. You were right; I did abandon this family and my kids, right when they needed me the most. And even though I don't think it was right, and even though I know I still hate you for doing it, I know you had the best interests of the kids at heart." Raphael said fiercely, surprising Leonardo.

Raphael sighed heavily and continued "Leo, I could hold a grudge against you for the rest of my life. But if there is one thing I've learned the hard way, it's that life's too damn short, and that family is everything. Kitten tried to teach me that a long time ago. It took a while, but I think it finally managed to sink in." Raphael gave Leonardo's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I could never really hate you, Leo, and believe me… I tried. But you're my brother, and I love you."

Leonardo felt tears fill his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Raph, for everything." He managed to choke out, quickly dashing the tears from his eyes.

Raphael sighed, which came out as more of a deep throated growl, and pulled Leonardo into a musky, leather scented hug.

"She's never answered me either." Raphael spoke softly. "I always thought she was pissed at me for walking away, or trying to get revenge. Heh, maybe she's pissed at both of us." Raphael observed as he pulled away, shoving his hands deeply into his trench coat pockets.

Leonardo shifted slightly and gave a half grin of agreement. "Maybe." He acknowledged, his mind shifting to another problem. "But if you're going to be staying, we need to find you someplace to sleep. We can't have you crashing on the couch forever. Mikey's already upset that he can't watch all of his sci-fi and horror movies. You've been ruining his B-movie nights. Ren, Ryu and Mikey love watching them together."

Raphael gave a faint smirk. "Ren I can see, but Ryu?"

"Don't let her cute exterior fool you, she's bloodthirsty." Leonardo said of their youngest daughter."I think she gets it from you." Leonardo grumbled under his breath.

Raphael just let out a snort, but somehow looked pleased. "Night, Leo, I'll catch you in the morning." Raphael said as he made his way back into the living room and onto the couch.

Leonardo took one last look at Katherine's marker and made his way to the upper level. He looked in on Ryu and Sage, both who were sound asleep. Next he checked on Ren, who was sleeping soundly as well. Leonardo decided that Ren would have to move all of his stuff in with Toshiro. The two boys could share a room, which was going to be a nightmare. Ren and Toshiro loved each other, but were like oil and water when together. Toshiro like his own space, and was neurotically organized and tidy, Ren was a slob; an organized slob, but a slob none the less. Though if asked, Ren would probably rather move into the lab.

Lastly, Leonardo checked on Toshiro. He was lying on his bed sleeping with his table lamp on. Leonardo walked into his eldest son's room to turn off the light.

Leonardo wondered then how old they were when Master Splinter had stopped checking in on them when they went to bed for the night. He believed that their father had probably checked on them every night up until the day he had died. The thought was a comforting one that made him smile slightly in fond remembrance. He wished, not for the first time, that their father had lived long enough to see his family grow up and have children of their own.

Leonardo looked at Toshiro's walls, covered in posters of rock bands, cars, motorcycles and women wearing skimpy clothing. He sighed slightly and shook his head. His eyes caught sight of a piece of a painted flower peeking out from beneath a poster that had lost a piece of tape in the corner; curling up slightly, and exposing part of the painted nursery wall underneath.

Leonardo walked to the wall, and pulled up the poster, exposing the entire painted flower beneath. Leonardo's heart constricted in grief at the thought of another who he wished could have seen their children grow up. He knelt down and ran his fingers lovingly over the signature Katherine had written on the bottom of the wall, and the date she had painted it; hidden within the petals of the flower. Her signature was nothing more than an elaborate 'K' and a wisp of what looked like faint smoke; but was actually, representative of her last name, Wraith.

The pieces of artwork that still hung in the Natural History Museum were signed in exactly the same way. Katherine had signed the museum pieces with her legal last name of Wraith because of her uncle Carin. The Milton family and the Wraith family had given the museum the two pieces of artwork they had in their possession. The other paintings for the Neanderthal exhibit were in the hands of private collectors, who were not selling the pieces which were worth a substantial amount of money.

Leonardo stood, letting go of the corner of the poster so that it fell back into place. He took one last look at his son's room, turned off the table lamp, and walked out, closing the door gently behind him.

* * *

**Toshiro** opened his eyes slightly, watching his father leave his room and close the door behind him. He had been sleeping until he had sensed a presence enter his room, jolting him into awareness. Seeing that it was just his father -probably coming in to turn out the light and to see if he was awake- Toshiro had pretended to be asleep. He had not wanted to listen to a lecture on how he was not supposed to go out by himself late at night. And he could just imagine the trouble he was going to get into if his father found out Sage had followed him topside.

He fully opened his eyes as soon as the door closed. He slid silently out of bed and walked to his door, listening intently to the sound of his father's unique, limping gait as it got further and further away from his door.

He walked back to his desk and turned on the lamp. He would never admit to anyone that he hated the dark, but turning his light back on now served another purpose. He walked to the wall and knelt down before it -exactly as his father had done- pulling the poster up and studying the flower that lay beneath. He ran his fingers over the white signature that was hidden within the folds of the pale yellow flower petals.

Toshiro had always believed that his painted nursery walls had something to do with his mother, and now he knew that she had in fact painted the mural that adorned his walls. The 'K' stood for Katherine, he knew that much, though he was confused at the wisp of smoke that circled around the letter like a light and airy shroud.

He stood and walked back to his bed, gently lying back down and rolling over so that he was facing the wall opposite the flower.

Thoughts of his mother disturbed him too much. But Toshiro supposed that he had to believe that a woman who would so lovingly paint a baby's room in such beautiful detail, would not abandon her children willingly. Still, the thought of his mother's death was painful to bear; if only because he had never had a chance to meet the woman his father had loved so much.

* * *

**Kismet** looked over the rooftop at the six men who were milling around in the darkened alley below her. The moon was hidden behind the dark clouds that lazily rolled across the city's bright skyline. A single bulb located above the warehouse door being the only light illuminating the men below. All were armed with high powered laser or plasma rifles. A few were even carrying old fashioned guns loaded with lead bullets. Not that it mattered; any of the guns were perfectly capable of killing you, no matter which gun you were shot with.

"Ready to fly, Darlin'?" Hermes asked in his deep southern drawl from beside her.

She flicked a quick glance at Hermes, but kept most of her attention fixed on the gang members milling below her.

"Aren't you getting bored with this?" She asked him as she watched a gang member light up a cigarette before turning her full attention to the man on her right.

Hermes wore a slight grin, his longish, dark blonde hair tousled and streaked liberally with white, making him appear far older than his thirty odd years. Her own hair colour also belied her age, which was mid twenties. She and her two companions were part of a military experiment gone horribly wrong. At least, she thought of it as having gone wrong since she had no recollection of her past other than what was in her file. To the military, their experiment was a brilliant success. Kismet and her team were imbued with a tactical advantage that had nothing to do with training or weaponry, although these definitely helped.

"I never get bored, Darlin'." Hermes said with a flirtatious grin.

Kismet rolled her eyes and looked to her left, where another man had been watching her interplay with Hermes with a large, white toothed grin on his face. "What about you, Shai?"

"I'm with Hermes, I never get bored either. I mean, what's boring about this gig?" He asked her. Kismet studied her other companion. He was crouched down at the moment, but when he stood up, he was well over six feet tall, built like a linebacker and his skin was like black coffee with a touch of cream. His short cropped, dark hair was streaked liberally with white as well, an apparent 'side effect' of the experiment.

Kismet brushed a silver curl out of her face and turned her attention back to the gang members below.

"I just feel like we are searching for a needle in a haystack." She grumbled.

"Well, we may be," Hermes agreed, "but on the bright side, we get to mess with the gangs until we actually complete our assignment." Hermes' lopsided grin became wider.

Kismet let out a reluctant sigh. "I suppose so." She grumbled. She and her two companions were part of a top secret government team, whose mission it was to disrupt the supply chain of weapons that were being moved in and out of the city. This however was not their primary objective. Their prime objective was finding the location and any information that they could on a top secret underworld project code named Aether. So far they had only had luck with destroying illegal weapons shipments, drug shipments, and human trafficking organizations. Which was good, she wasn't upset with those things, but she was getting frustrated with not finding out what Project Aether actually was.

"Alright." Kismet said as she stood. Her silver and white streaked curls fell over her shoulders. She pushed them out of the way as she pulled the black mask down over her eyes and partially covering her cheeks. "Let's do this." She said as she pulled out two ice picks, usually used by hikers to climb up icy mountains. She adjusted the bow and quiver across her back, and took two steps back.

"Good Luck." Hermes quipped.

Kismet rolled her eyes. It was the same thing every night, though Hermes did not seem to be getting bored with saying it to her... yet. Besides that was the signal for their coms to go silent.

Of course, 'good luck' was the irony of their situation. She had Luck. She had luck in spades. After all, that was the success of the experiment, imbuing a person with copious amounts of Luck with a capital 'L'. By being able to tap into the intangible concept of luck, they had the ability to have more luck than the average person should theoretically and statistically have. Of course, this good luck that they were imbued with meant that the more good luck they used for themselves, the more bad luck adversely affected the people around them. Which considering their situation, was not a bad thing.

She ran, launching herself off the side of the building, the ice picks outstretched in front of her. She knew her black combat suit would only give her a certain amount of cover before she hit the wall of the building opposite their position, alerting their target below.

Her ice picks drove themselves into the brickwork of the wall of the warehouse. The gang members' attention quickly turned up to her crouched fifteen feet above the ground, and hanging from the wall.

There was a frightened shout of 'Shit, it's the Wraith', before their gun's opened fire. Bullets, beams and pulses were fired at her as she pushed off the wall with her feet, pulling her ice picks out at the same time, and launching herself across to the wall of the building she had originally been perched on, and slamming her ice picks into the concrete wall.

A large piece of the warehouse's brick wall fell, pinning three of the men underneath its cumbersome weight.

Kismet pulled her ice picks from the building and landed on the ground with a light thud. Three shots rang out through the night, as electrically charged pulses hit the remaining gang members in the chest, knocking them unconscious.

Hermes and Shai landed beside her, their electric pulse rifles at the ready as panicked voices behind the thick metal door of the warehouse alerted them to the fact that they were about to get more company.

Hermes motioned for Shai to circle round to the front of the warehouse to make sure none of the gang members attempted to move anything through the large bay doors opposite the back door where they were currently located.

Hermes pointed up and Kismet gave a nod. She ran, and using her ice picks, began to scale the warehouse wall, moving towards the hole she had made in the side of the building.

She would slip inside while Hermes stood at the back door, and dealt with the gang members who stumbled out of that particular entrance.

The back door suddenly swung open, bullets and beams hitting the opposite wall before the gang members could even see who they were shooting at.

The narrow doorway provided the perfect siphoning corridor for Hermes to easily start shooting each gang member as they emerged one by one; stumbling over each other in their haste to eliminate the enemy threat.

Kismet slipped inside and watched the chaos happening below her. She balanced on the broken wall fifteen feet above the chaos below, completely unobserved. Her eyes scanned the wooden crates lining the small warehouse floor. She looked for a crate or something in particular that stood out as different from the rest.

Nothing struck her as out of the ordinary, but she would know for sure once she found the manifest. Not that she was expecting any documentation regarding Project Aether, but she would know when there was something listed that was out of place.

She scanned the building and found the small 'office' located slightly to her right. She smiled. The 'office' consisted of a table, a chair and a stack of papers.

The chair was currently occupied by a large, tattooed man, shouting orders at his men as he shoved a stack of papers into a messenger bag.

Kismet liked it when the criminal element remained old-school. Criminals found that it was much easier to burn papers than it was to find a computer program that would actually keep a determined hacker out. No matter how many encryptions you placed on your files, they could always be cracked.

The sound of a large engine turning over caught her attention. She could just barely make out the noise over the gunfire and shouting, but she caught the flash of headlights turning towards the large bay doors which were in the process of opening.

Kismet balanced herself on the wall and pulled her bow from her back. Her bow looked like an ordinary wooden stick until she pushed the small button which expanded the weapon, automatically stringing it. She pulled out four arrows intent on shooting the tires of the truck.

It was at that moment that everything went to hell in a hand basket. Shouting began filtering back from the front as twenty men, armed with guns, pipes, chains and bats charged in through the now open bay doors.

Kismet blinked in surprise at the new group of men, who began attacking the men currently occupying the warehouse.

The new group of men bore the tattoos of the Purple Dragons, while the men of the warehouse bore the triangular tattoos of the Triple Triad.

Kismet knew when a mission was going south and this one had. Kismet slung her bow over her shoulder, and placed the arrows back in her quiver before she pulled herself through to the outside of the wall.

She looked down and observed that Hermes had managed to stem the Triple Triad tide by closing the door, and shoving a dumpster in the way, blocking it from being re-opened.

She gave a nod to Hermes and climbed the five feet to the rooftop, knowing that Hermes and Shai had felt the same hair raising, stomach churning, warning that she felt buzzing through her body.

It was time to go before they got themselves killed.

She met Shai on the rooftop as she put her ice picks through her belt. "What happened?" She asked Shai, who stood like a statue, gun trained and ready, eyes searching and alert.

"Purple Dragons lost their leader last week, they blamed it on the Triple Triads. 'Lost' as in he went missing and hasn't been found. Looks like the Triads are going in for a bit of revenge." Shai observed letting go of his rifle so it hung by the strap. Hermes' head peaked over the edge of the rooftop, and Shai walked over to help him the rest of the way up.

"Well, that was a waste of time." Hermes grumbled, the sounds of gunfire coming from below their feet.

"Well, we could always just wait until the ruckus dies down and then see what's in the truck." Shai suggested.

Hermes looked to Kismet for her opinion. She thought about it for a moment. "I have a better idea." She said thoughtfully. "Hermes, grab my boots." She said as she walked to the edge of the rooftop. She got down on her belly, Hermes grabbing her boots, and lowering her over the side of the building back to the hole she had made 5 feet below. She was exactly five feet tall so this manoeuvre worked perfectly. She pulled her bow from her back and shot four specially tipped arrows in rapid succession into the chaos consuming the warehouse.

On contact the arrows exploded. The four crates she hit must have contained explosives of some sort because the warehouse was suddenly filled with shrapnel, fire and billowing smoke.

Hermes pulled her up and she motioned for them to follow her as she ran across the roof to the opposite side of the warehouse.

A mass exodus of both sets of gang members streamed through the bay doors, followed by the semi.

Kismet launched herself off the rooftop, hitting the trailer of the semi dead center. Hermes and Shai quickly followed, landing beside her. She pulled out her ice picks and slammed them through the metal of the trailer as the semi swerved, causing them to lose their balance.

Hermes slid off the side, but Shai quickly grabbed his hand and hers at the same moment. Shai pulled Hermes back onto the top of the trailer and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close." Hermes said nodding to Shai in thanks, as the truck drove erratically through the streets, trying to escape the carnage of the warehouse behind them.

Shai pulled a small explosive device from his belt, and placed it on the metal surface of the trailer. They all backed away as far as they could, covering their faces with their arms as the small device blew a hole in the roof of the trailer.

The semi slammed on its brakes as Hermes jumped inside of the large compartment. "It's full of Gem." Hermes shouted, indicating that it was a shipment of highly addictive, very expensive drugs that had been trying to hit the market and garner a foothold as _The_ new drug of choice.

The door to the cab of the truck was suddenly thrust opened. Shai easily took out both the driver and his partner with his electric pulse riffle, knocking both men unconscious.

"Light it up." Kismet shouted as she helped Hermes crawl out of the trailer.

"Already on it." Hermes said with a smile, as he threw down a flare, just as he was lifted from within the trailer.

Gem also happened to be highly flammable.

Kismet, Hermes and Shai leapt from the trailer as the drugs caught fire. They dragged the two unconscious Triple Triads a safe distance away, and watched as the trailer burned.

"Well, that was _almost_ a waste of time." Kismet said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Hermes put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Well, we didn't find what we were looking for..."

"But we got to blow shit up." Shai finished giving Hermes a high five, both grinning like kids in a candy store.

Kismet rolled her eyes and chuckled slightly.

"Who do you suppose the Wraith is?" Hermes questioned suddenly.

Kismet shrugged. "No idea." She replied truthfully. She had been called the Wraith on a few occasions now, but she had no idea who the Wraith was supposed to be, or why she was being mistaken for her. "But I have a feeling that whoever she is, we shouldn't go asking Command about her."

Hermes and Shai nodded. Her 'feelings', 'hunches' and 'intuitions' were the strongest of the team. So if she 'felt' a certain way about something, Hermes and Shai never questioned her.

"So for now, we pretend she doesn't exist." She said thoughtfully.

"And in reality?" Shai questioned, catching her double meaning slightly faster than Hermes.

"We find out who or what the Wraith is." She said with determination. "Very quietly and discreetly."

* * *

**Thoughts and opinions are always welcome:)**


	5. Chapter 4

**A giant thank you to Amonraphoenix for beta reading this chapter and offering up her ideas and suggestions. Also thank you to Dondena for giving the chapter a read thru as well! all your hard work is very much appreciated!**

**A big thank you as well to Diana Fay, Mela989898 and I love Kittens too! for your awesome reviews!**

* * *

Chapter 4

**Kismet** removed her body armour, and carefully hung it up in her locker. A finger ran down her spine, brushing over the knotted tissue of a bullet wound that was slightly to the right of her left shoulder blade, right over her heart.

"I still can't believe you managed to survive being shot in the back." Hermes whispered in awe. His lips, close to her ear, sent a shiver of desire racing across her skin.

"Yeah, yeah, Hermes, back it up." Shai said, pushing Hermes out of the way as he reached into his locker, beads of water still fresh along his dark skin, a white towel loosely wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, we're off the clock." Hermes protested, but took a step back anyway.

Kismet just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She took a shirt out of locker, pulled it over her head, and down her body. Hermes was right though, she couldn't remember when she had been shot; sometime before the 'experiment', she would imagine.

How she had survived was a nothing short of a tiny miracle. The bullet should have pierced her heart, killing her instantly. Instead it ricocheted off a rib changing the bullet's trajectory, sending the bullet through her lung, and breaking a few more ribs before exiting out the front of her chest. She had probably nearly died anyway, but somehow, she had managed to pull through. She had been lucky. A quality that had been specifically desired for participation in Project Tyche.

"What are you up to, Shai?" Kismet asked the larger man as she slipped into her jeans.

"I'm gonna kick back and watch some TV. Got a few classic movies I've been dying to watch. You?" He asked. "Or do I want to know what you two are going to be up to later?" He asked knowingly. Shai let his towel slip to the floor as he grabbed out his clothes. He was a man who was not shy about being naked, and with good reason.

Kismet found her cheeks blooming with warm colour. Shai chuckled at her blush.

"Made her blush." Shai said with a grin.

Hermes gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "Stop showing off." Hermes growled.

Shai chuckled even harder as Hermes placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in possessively close to his body. The scent of musk and lemons surrounded her, almost reminding her of someone, but she wasn't sure who.

"We have plans, don't we, Darlin'?" Hermes gave her a white toothed grin, his face full of flirtatious suggestion.

"Yes, Lover." Katherine purred back. "We do." She leaned into Hermes who leaned down and kissed her.

She felt the familiar spark of desire that she always felt when Hermes kissed her. She finally pulled away from their hungry kiss.

"Well, I'll leave you two love birds alone." Shai said with a wave, his muscular form now fully clothed in sweat pants and a form fitting t-shirt. "I'll catch you two later."

They waved at Shai and made their own way towards their sleeping quarters. They lived at their base of operations. They were not allowed outside unless they were on assignment. And then when their assignment for the night was completed, they were on orders to return base immediately.

This was explained by an agent as a 'precautionary measure', for the safety of the civilian population. Because of their increased good luck, bad luck tended to fall upon anyone surrounding them. And although this was in fact true, all three of them knew that it was more likely that the government had spent a great deal of money on Project Tyche, and they didn't want their 'experiments' running around free throughout the city.

And as for them basically leaking bad luck, Kismet and her team had been trying to fix this unfortunate side effect through meditation. They were trying to be able to turn the Luck on and off at will, increasing and lessening it's power as need be. This meditation of control they were performing was done in secret. So far, Kismet had experienced the most success in being able to control the intensity of her Luck, while Hermes and Shai had perfected being able to shut their Luck off completely.

"Your room, or mine?" Hermes asked suggestively, snapping her back into the present.

"Yours." She answered quickly as he kissed her passionately, hauling her roughly into his room and slamming the door closed behind them.

She pulled away then and looked up into his dark blue eyes.

"Maybe one day you'll actually let me pull you down onto my bed and let me make love to you." Hermes said softly, brushing his finger across the scar on her left cheek.

"Maybe... one day." She said seriously as she stepped out of Hermes' all too tempting embrace. He tempted her too much. She genuinely liked Hermes, could probably love him, if she let herself. Though if she were honest with herself, she probably did love him, but was unwilling to admit it, because that would just complicate things.

They all knew what they had been told, but that did not mean that they necessarily believed it. Hermes was the one who had first suggested that something was not right about their situation; and if Hermes said that something was wrong, she believed him.

She had her own reservations and suspicions, and hearing Hermes' doubts only confirmed her own feelings. Shai was of course in agreement with Hermes as well. He agreed that no matter how secret or how deep an OP was, this particular operation didn't feel right because _everything_ was so secretive. For example they had no idea the name of their actual commanding officer, only his subordinates. There were other agents that they talked to and interacted with who supplied them with their Intel, weapons, and transportation, as well as the more mundane aspects of life, such as food and clothing.

If this were not suspicious enough, the fact that they were not allowed any electronic devices such as phones, computers, laptops and holovids sent up too many red flags. They had a TV and a movie player, but no cable or satellite; nothing that could connect them to the outside world.

Hermes walked over and plopped himself down on his bed, patting the sheet covered mattress beside him invitingly. She walked over and sat down beside him, his leg brushing against hers.

Hermes spread his legs slightly and reached between his mattress and box spring, pulling out a stack of porn magazines. He pulled a magazine from the middle and handed it to her. She took it and pulled out a photocopy of each of their files.

Hermes motioned with a finger to his lips, his eyes darting towards the door, where a sudden shadow walked by.

Katherine bounced on the bed slightly, creating a noticeable squeak. "Oh Hermes!" She half shouted, half moaned as she made throaty, panting noises. Hermes joined in until the shadow moved away, apparently satisfied that they were completely absorbed in a sexual rendezvous.

Kismet turned her attention back to the photocopies of their files. Just because Kismet and her crew had become suspicious of their situation, and their mission, didn't mean that they were stupid. They pretended to be good little sheep; following orders, and never, ever questioning anything. They all knew that to question something was a death sentence. How they knew this they didn't know, some instinctual sixth sense, most likely related to their overabundance of Luck.

They knew that they were being watched and tracked all the time. The only place there weren't any cameras were their bedrooms and the bathroom. So when they had decided to investigate their situation, it had been decided that she and Hermes would pretend to be lovers. Shai was in on this ruse and did his best to propagate this particular deception. It allowed Hermes and her to be alone in one of their rooms without any suspicions of 'gathering' or 'congregating' in secret. The only time all three of them were ever together was when they were in the common areas watching movies, playing cards or video games. Mundane things where they never questioned anything; except in secret.

The only other place they were able to discuss things was in the midst of a mission. The active cue to cut radio contact was when Hermes said 'Good luck.' The reason for this was because many of the gang owned buildings scanned for active radio and energy frequencies; hence the no phones or electronic devices rule. The only exception to this rule were the electronic pulse rifles that Hermes and Shai carried. Each gun only gave off an energy signal when it was fired, so Shai and Hermes were allowed to carry them.

Kismet lay on the bed and rolled onto her belly, examining the papers in front of her.

"I don't see what you hope to find by looking at those things over and over again." Hermes whispered in her ear as he lay down beside her.

"Mmmm..." She mumbled distractedly. According to her file her name was Kismet Rae Williams, 25 years old, born in Montana and immediately given up for adoption. She joined the US Military when she was 18, and there was a list of combat roles as well as peacekeeping duties. Then she volunteered for Project Tyche in the secret division known only as S.W.O.R.D. an acronym for the Secret World Organization of Recon and Defence; whatever that was.

Kismet looked at Hermes' file. Born Hermes Joseph Renner, 32 years old, born in Louisiana, parents both killed in a car accident when he was 23. Joined the US Military at the age of 19, several combat and peacekeeping roles. Volunteered for Project Tyche.

Her eyes then scanned Shai's file. Born Shai Armen Massri, 33 years old, born in Michigan, both parents died when he was 3, raised by his grandmother who died when he was 17. Joined the US Military at 18, again combat and peacekeeping experience. But unlike her and Hermes, Shai had been married, but his wife had died of cancer just before he volunteered for Project Tyche.

Kismet sighed and closed the magazine burying her head in Hermes' blankets as she tried to make sense of the files. There was nothing in them to arouse any sort of suspicion, but the problem was, she had no memory before Project Tyche, so she could only trust her instincts and her instincts were telling her that something was very wrong with their files. She had no memory of anything further back than six months ago. Before then her memory was just a fuzzy blank. She had feelings and sensations, and she knew the memories were there, but she was unable to grasp them.

Kismet let out a moan as Hermes began massaging her shoulders. She tended to keep all of her stress there.

"Did you get anything off that guy's phone?" Hermes asked softly, breaking the silence of the room.

"Mmmmm." She groaned as he hit a particularly tough knot. "No." She grumbled. "I need a laptop. It's too hard to hack into S.W.O.R.D's system from a phone. Doable, but I would need a lot more time, and I only had a few minutes before I had to slip the phone back into the gang member's pocket. The transport picked us up too soon." She paused as she enjoyed Hermes' massage before continuing. "But I did manage to look up the Wraith."

"Yeah?" He questioned. "And?"

"She's an urban myth. The article said that the Wraith was some chick who was killed almost twenty years ago. Her ghost is said to haunt the gangs of New York, exacting vengeance upon those who harm innocents. I didn't even have time to download a picture, just the text."

"Stupid phones." Hermes grumbled. "All this technology and they can't even figure out a way to have the phones web capable and actually able to download anything quickly."

"That's because everyone wants the holovid to pop up on their phones, and it just takes too long to upload. The phone companies will figure it out eventually." Kismet groaned again as Hermes worked on another knot.

"So... another dead end?" Hermes asked her.

"Who knows." She admitted, slightly disheartened by their lack of progress in understanding why they had no memories of their past, or what Project Aether really was. It felt as if they had been chasing ghosts for the past 6 months, ever since she had woken up and remembered nothing except what a man in an official looking suit had told her.

"Do you think we will ever know who we really are?" Hermes questioned softly, settling beside her.

"I think so." She answered firmly.

"And then?" Hermes asked. "Do you think you will finally let yourself love me?"

"I hope so." She answered truthfully. Loving Hermes felt right, and yet there was something that held her back. A possible shadow of her past that would not allow her to actively pursue a relationship with him.

"Well, maybe tomorrow night we'll get lucky." Hermes said as he rolled onto his back.

"Maybe." She agreed as she yawned, suddenly overly tired.

"Stay?" Hermes asked her softly, turning his head so that he was looking right into her eyes.

"Sure." She answered gratefully. It was funny, he acted like she was doing him a big favour by asking her to spend the night with him; when in actuality, it was the other way around. She hated sleeping alone. She dreamt dreams she could never remember; brutal nightmares that woke her up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Sleeping with Hermes seemed to help, though maybe in some way, she helped him as well, but she wasn't sure.

She curled into him so that they were spooning. She reached forward as if to grab someone else, but her arms only clutched at empty air. She frowned and wondered why it felt as if she should be holding someone tightly against her heart.

She closed her eyes and settled more comfortably into Hermes. "Goodnight." She said to him.

"Goodnight, Love." He said to her softy, his voice sounding tired as well.

* * *

**Donatello** stretched, his joints cracking as he rolled groggily out of bed. He slowly got dressed, feeling exhausted; emotionally and physically. He had slept fitfully the night before after his conversation with Leonardo and Raphael. Guilt for what he had done was eating him up alive.

He felt guilty for the way he had treated Raphael ten years ago, when he had basically agreed with Leonardo that the best course of action regarding the children, was for Leonardo to remain their only father. Of course at the time, Donatello hadn't realized the full and total extent of Raphael and Leonardo's brutal and horrific fight, or the reason that Raphael had left in the first place, until he had overheard his brothers talking last night.

Although if he were honest with himself, even in hindsight, Donatello may not have changed his position on Raphael's right to their children; all of whom Donatello thought of as his own. After all, Donatello had raised the children by himself for a little over two years. Leonardo's recovery was long and brutally painful, and he was unable to care for the children at all; and Michelangelo and Raphael were both gone. Leonardo had eventually recovered, and Michelangelo had finally returned, and also helped to raise the children. And even though Donatello knew that the children were not biologically his own, both he and Michelangelo thought of the children in that way anyway.

Donatello walked to his door and slowly opened it. He had built himself a bedroom in his lab when the lair started to get too crowded. He had also soundproofed the walls so that Ren wouldn't keep him up when he decided to tinker in the lab or garage at all hours of the day... or night.

Donatello found his lab surprisingly empty, but there was a small beaker bubbling on a hotplate. He looked around and angrily stomped over to the hotplate, annoyed that Ren would carelessly leave something as dangerous as a boiling liquid on a hot surface unattended.

He turned the dial of the hotplate into the OFF position, and hear a faint 'tink' of glass hitting glass. Donatello frowned as he looked at the fishing line that had been tied to the dial of the hotplate. A test tube hit another test tube, which set off a chain reaction. Another test tube was knocked over and rolled across the work bench, hitting a stir stick causing a weight to fall on a small rubber pump. The air from the pump blew into a tube which shot a blue liquid through various tubes and beakers.

Donatello watched, fascinated, as he walked around the workbench. He watched the liquid go through various stages of cooling and heating and mixing before it dripped into a final beaker. The liquid was now a rich, dark purple and seemed to be thickening as it was heated a final time.

Donatello peered at the liquid in confusion as the small pilot flame suddenly extinguished itself.

* * *

**Leonardo** was kneeling on the floor of his bedroom. There was a soft knock at his door and at his word, the doors slid open, revealing Sage looking irritated, and nervous.

"You called, Father?" She asked respectfully as he motioned her inside. She stepped into his room and knelt down on the floor in front of him.

Leonardo looked over his daughter, who was dressed in her body armour, her ninjaken strapped to her back, indicating that she had been up early and already training in the dojo; most likely by herself. Since as far as Leonardo knew, his other children were still sleeping.

Sage was looking at him with a mixture of apprehension, guilt, and a tinge of anger. Leonardo let out a huff of air. He was disappointed that Sage had disobeyed him and had gone out after Toshiro -who had also disobeyed his orders- but he knew he couldn't really blame her. Especially not after Michelangelo had informed him that he had given Sage permission to leave the lair in search of Toshiro.

Leonardo had a lengthy conversation with him this morning -his baby brother waking up unusually early- Leonardo had filled him in on what had been discussed last night about their plans to find the new 'Wraith'. They would have included Michelangelo in their discussions last night, but he was already in bed, and everything had happened so fast, there had been no time to wake him.

Michelangelo had gone pale when he had mentioned the 'Wraith'. And Leonardo realized that Katherine's death had hit Michelangelo hard as well -which he had already known- but he supposed he was just surprised that her name still had the ability to cause Michelangelo a great deal of pain.

Leonardo had then mentioned needing to talk to Sage and Toshiro about their disobedience, and that was when he had learned that Michelangelo had given Sage permission to leave. Leonardo had been furious that his baby brother would allow his daughter to do something that Leonardo had expressly forbid.

Unfortunately, all the children tended to look at both Donatello and Michelangelo as surrogate fathers of sorts. Michelangelo had then pointed out that keeping Sage in the lair and not letting her out would eventually cause the same sort of behaviour in her as it had in Raphael. The harder Leonardo had tried to keep Raphael in the lair, the harder Raphael had fought back; literally.

Leonardo had initially disagreed with Michelangelo's observation until he pointed out that Sage was a teenager and not stupid. That she knew there was a reason only she, and not her other siblings, was left behind all the time. Sage trained hard and was trying to gain Leonardo's approval. If she was unable to gain his approval, she would begin to gain his disapproval, by rebelling against Leonardo's harsh strictures.

Unfortunately Leonardo knew that Michelangelo was right. And now gazing at his daughter, he knew just how right his brother really was.

Of course, the problem was that even though Leonardo knew Michelangelo was right, he was hard pressed to know what to do about it. Sage was the only one of their children who looked human, and this made her more vulnerable than her other siblings. And although she was as well trained as her siblings -most likely more since she was the more disciplined out of all of them- Leonardo secretly worried about her the most.

Sage did not resemble Katherine that much. There were similarities in their appearance, but Sage at 17, had already outgrown her mother's diminutive stature. Sage more closely resembled her grandmother, Sheila Wraith, and had recently outgrown her 'gawky' stage. That stage that some humans seemed to go through when they were in-between childhood and adulthood. This meant that Sage was turning into a stunning young woman, who would be as striking as her grandmother had been. And for this Leonardo was thankful of their hidden existence, otherwise he would have to beat the human men off with a stick... _Or his katanas._ He thought to himself wryly.

"Sage..." He began, but she interrupted him.

"You can't keep me locked up here forever." She growled angrily. She reigned in her temper before she continued. "I'm sorry, Father, but I am not a child."

Leonardo sighed tiredly. There was one thing about Sage that did remind him of Katherine however, and that was her dauntless and fiery spirit.

"Things in the city are getting too dangerous, Sage." Leonardo told her softly. "You are the most well trained, you know this, but you and your brothers and sister are all banned from going topside, for the time being. That includes going to Auntie April and Uncle Casey's apartment as well."

"What!?" She asked in shock.

"The city is poised on the brink of a gang war, and I do not want any of you getting caught up in the middle of it." He told her sternly, trying to repress a wince as his leg spasmed from kneeling on the floor for too long.

"Father..." Sage began, but Leonardo cut her off as he got painfully to his feet.

"Sage, I know you think I am being unfair, and I know I am, but when this all blows over, we will discuss allowing all of you to go out when you wish. But right now, I need you to convince your other siblings that this is the right thing to do for right now, okay?" He asked her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

He could see her warring with herself. Her need to please him warred with her need for independence. Finally she gave a curt nod, indicating her acquiescence.

"Thank you." He said just as an explosion rocked the lair.

Momentary fear ripped through Leonardo until he heard Donatello's angry shout.

"REN!" Donatello's voice bellowed from his lab.

Leonardo ignored the pain in his leg and ran out of his room, towards the lab.

"Ren! Get in here right NOW!" Donatello yelled as Leonardo heard Michelangelo's whoops of laughter emanating from within the lab.

Sage, close on his heels, entered Donatello's lab and took in Donatello, covered from head to toe in purple slime.

"Mikey, it's not funny!" Donatello roared in annoyance. "I can't move!" Donatello struggled against the slime, which seemed to be holding him in place. No matter how hard he fought, he couldn't seem to break through the gelatinous goop.

Sage broke into laughter and Leonardo had to repress a groan as he palm slapped his forehead.

"What the hell is goin' on in here?" Raphael grumbled as he took in Donatello's predicament and smirked. "Remember all the times you slimed us with your weird experiments Donny, well guess this is payback." Raphael chuckled as he walked over to help Donatello from his sticky predicament.

Toshiro and Ryu entered the lab, looking at Donatello and breaking out into whoops of laughter, especially after Raphael -trying to get Donatello out of the slime- got stuck himself. They struggled valiantly against each other as Raphael became more and more entangled within the purple slime.

"Ren!" Raphael snarled angrily, losing his previous good humour.

Ryu's attention was suddenly caught by something in the rafters of the lab. Leonardo studied his other daughter who was wearing a short skirt and halter top of some sort.

"Ryu, what are you wearing?" Leonardo questioned in parental horror.

Ryu looked down at herself. She was wearing her customary yellow mask that, like Toshiro's covered her entire head, but unlike Toshiro's, she customarily tied the tails of her mask into a large bow at the back of her head. Usually a tomboy, she shied away from 'girly' things, and tended to wear torn jeans and t-shirts. However, at the moment, she was wearing a low cut white halter top, and Leonardo could almost see his youngest daughter's underwear underneath the short plaid skirt she was wearing.

Ryu looked down at herself and shrugged. "Shadow gave it to me. I think it's pretty." She said smoothing out the material. "But... how would you fight in this?" She asked pulling at the length of the much too short skirt. "Those girls in comic books and manga always fight in short skirts and heels, but... it just doesn't seem to be very practical to me. But I sure look cute, don't I?" She questioned with a wide grin. "But I think it would look better if I had boobs." She said looking down at her only slightly rounded upper plastron.

Sage walked up to Ren."They just get in the way, trust me." Sage said as she pulled at the white halter top. "You are better off without them. And you don't have to tape them down when training and fighting, or go bra shopping with Auntie April.

"True." Ryu agreed with a thoughtful smile.

"Leo!" Raphael snapped angrily, either from still being literally stuck to Donatello, or from watching their 16 year old daughter prancing around in unsuitable clothing and talking about breasts.

Leonardo sighed inwardly. _Just another day in the lair_.

"Ryu, go change into something more appropriate, and, Ren, get down here right now and un-stick your uncles!" Leonardo commanded, looking up at his son who was sitting up on some large pipes overhead. Ren pulled his goggles down over his metallic grey mask, his brown fiddler hat firmly in place, and adjusted what appeared to be an old fashioned pair of lightweight paper and wood wings strapped to his carapace.

"Ren, don't you dare!" Leonardo yelled in fear as he realized what his son intended to do. The ceiling was fifteen feet above their heads and although Leonardo knew that with his ninja training, the fall shouldn't kill his son, but knew he could still be injured.

"It's okay, Dad, I'm pretty sure I've got the kinks worked out with the polarity and gravitational thrust that I was having problems with."

"Ren," Donatello began, his voice shaking with apprehension. "You know the math and physics aren't right! A hover engine cannot be scaled down to such a small size. And even if it could be managed, such a thing would be near impossible to handle."

"It's okay, Uncle Donny, I got this." Ren said with a cocky grin."Prepare for takeoff." Leonardo's steam punk obsessed son said as he adjusted his goggles and jumped.

"No!" Leonardo cried out, running to get underneath his falling son.

Raphael also shouted out Ren's name, fear filling his voice as a wind kicked up underneath Ren, halting his terrifying plunge. He wobbled slightly and then stabilized, hanging just a few feet up in the air.

Leonardo blinked in shock, surprised for a moment before there was a loud bang, and Ren came crashing down to the ground.

Michelangelo was at Ren's side quicker than Leonardo was able to make it there. "I'm okay, Uncle Mikey." Ren said shaking his head slightly as Leonardo knelt down beside his son. A big grin broke across Ren's face then. "Did you see that, Uncle Donny? Ten whole seconds before the engine blew. I am so close to figuring this out!" Ren said happily as he stood, completely unaware that he had nearly given every adult in the room a near heart attack.

Ren pulled up his goggles and looked at Donatello and Raphael. He pulled off his wings and let the contraption fall to the ground. "This stuff works a lot better than I thought it would." Ren observed, picking up a set of gloves from Donatello's work bench, and walking over to Donatello and Raphael. Both who had collapsed onto the ground in relief and exhaustion from struggling against the slime.

Ren poked at the sticky substance and grinned widely.

"Ren, get this stuff off of us. Now!" Raphael growled.

"Can't." Ren said with a shake of his head.

"What do you mean you can't?" Raphael asked, incredulous.

"Well, I've figured out that the tensile strength of the liquid is relative to its longevity." He said, tipping his head to the side in a gesture very reminiscent of Katherine.

"What?" Raphael snarled as he again struggled against the confining slime.

"He said that there is a time limit on the slime, so that it will lose its ability to hold us after its lifespan has expired." Donatello grumbled.

"English!" Raphael snapped.

"We have to wait until the gunk wears off." Donatello said succinctly.

"And how long is that gonna take?" Raphael asked.

"A few hours, no more than a day." Ren answered in an unconcerned voice.

"A day!?" Raphael barked, incredulous.

"Yup." Ren said happily. "I was hoping Uncle Donny could help me figure out how to counter the liquid's active properties, so that I would be able to control the amount of time it would remain disabling, but I had to test it first in a battle situation."

"Battle situation?" Leonardo asked in confusion as he struggled to his feet, massaging his bad leg.

"Well, we can take the liquid and place it in a device that will explode on contact with an enemy. Then the bad guys will be disabled, but completely unharmed. Boom, splat, stuck." Ren explained with a smile.

"Ren," Donatello began slowly. "Perhaps it would have been better if you would have asked for my help in disabling the goo before you covered me in it." Donatello pointed out patiently.

Ren, looking contrite, apologized. "I know... but it worked." He pointed out glumly.

Donatello sighed as Ren looked at Donatello with large, grey eyes, seeking his Uncle's approval. "Yes, Ren, the slime bomb is a brilliant idea." Donatello conceded. "And later, when this stuff wears off, we will work on it as well as your hover pack.

Ren's face lit up like it was Christmas and his birthday all at once.

Raphael sighed and slumped in defeat. "So what now, Genius?" He asked Donatello.

"We make ourselves comfortable ,while Ren tells me the exact components that went into making this slime." Donatello answered.

Ren gave a little happy skip of excitement. "I was thinking of calling it the Slimer."

Michelangelo chuckled. "Too Ghostbuster-y." Michelangelo answered as the children all looked at him in confusion. Michelangelo sighed. "Kids these days. I am going to make you watch all three Ghostbusters movies." He said with determination. "How about just the Goo Bomb, or Sticky Bomb."

"Just call it a Mess." Toshiro said, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head.

"I kinda like that." Ryu piped up. "Then we can throw a Mess at the bad guys and we can call out, Mess them up!" Ryu was in giggles, Ren was grinning widely, Toshiro was smirking, and even Sage had a smile on her face.

"Hey, Uncle Raph?" Ryu turned her attention to Raphael.

"Hmm?" Raphael asked, trying to get comfortable on the floor. Having fallen to the ground, they were both unable to get up again.

"I'll watch the match and tell you who wins." She said with a huge innocent smile.

"Huh?" Raphael asked in confusion.

"The big match is today, remember? The Crusher versus The Eliminator!" She said in eager excitement.

"What!?" Rapahel roared in horrorified disbelief. "What time is it!?"Raphael asked as he struggled to get free of the sticky Mess on the floor.

"Match starts in five minutes. I'm going to get changed." Ryu gave a slight wave as she walked from the lab.

"No!" Raphael shouted "Wait! Give me minute by minute updates! No record it and don't you dare tell me who wins!" Raphael shouted at her retreating carapace.

Leonardo gave a slight smile, and limped from the lab, hearing their Com device in the center of the lair beeping.

He made his way across the platform that extended over the pool of water, hitting the answer button.

Mortu the utrom appeared on the screen. "Leonardo." He said respectfully, giving Leonardo a slight bow.

"Hello, Mortu." Leonardo said with a slight bow of his head in greeting.

"I am contacting you in regards to the Reveal." He said with a slight wave of one of his pink tentacles.

"Mortu, you know than me and my family do not want to get involved with what the utroms are planning." Leonardo cautioned.

"I know, Leonardo. But us revealing our presence to the humans will change your lives as well as our own."

"I know." Leonardo said with a sharp nod. "But right now I have my own concerns." Leonardo said to his long time acquaintance.

"There will never be a perfect time to finally reveal ourselves to the humans, there will always be something. Trust me, Leonardo this will be a good thing, for the humans and for us. The humans need to know they are not alone, and I believe that with a little time they will be accepting."

Leonardo gave a nod, hoping that Mortu was correct. "Is Karai still helping?" Leonardo asked curiously.

"Yes, her Foot Ninja will be handling security." Mortu replied.

Leonardo nodded. "Thank you for letting me know." He said as he turned the Com device off.

Leonardo sighed. He wished Mortu and the Utroms well, he just didn't want to have his children exposed to the hatred, disgust and mistrust that the humans were no doubt going to mete out once the Utroms revealed their existence to them.

And Leonardo had other concerns at the moment. He still had to tell the rest of his children that they were banned from going topside until further notice, though Sage would no doubt tell Toshiro as soon as she was able to. Which meant that Leonardo would have to prepare for a fight with his oldest son. Leonardo also had to prepare for tonight. Looking for the 'Wraith' was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Leonardo walked towards the dojo, intent on training before anything else exciting decided to happen.

* * *

**Raphael** looked at the building as it burned. "Looks like we just missed her." He observed with a low growl of frustration. If it had been the Wraith who had set the Red Devil's warehouse on fire, then they had arrived moments too late. They had seen three dark figures darting across the rooftop as the building burned, but they couldn't make out any details of their appearance in the dark, or even if one of them had been a woman.

A second explosion rocked the night and Raphael and his brothers heard the distinctive whirring of hover choppers.

"That's our cue." Raphael grumbled, disappointed that they hadn't been able to confront or confirm that there was a woman who was impersonating his dead wife. But it was heartening to know that there _was_ someone running around disrupting and crippling the gangs.

Raphael and his brother's vanished into the night, allowing the police and firefighters to do their work. They would try again the next night and every night afterwards until they discovered the supposed 'Wraith', who she was, and what she was up to.

* * *

**Reviews are always appreciated!:D**


	6. Chapter 5

**A giant thank you as always to Amonraphoenix for beta reading this chapter and offering up her lovely suggestions and ideas. You are beyond awesome!Also a big thank you to Dondena who also beta read this story, thank you so much:D**

**And a shout out to Diana Fay and I love kittens too for your awesome reviews!**

* * *

Chapter 5

**Raphael** looked out over the roof of a building frequented by the Red Rebel Biker Gang. They had spent the past two weeks trying to find the 'Wraith', and always seemed to be one step behind her... or him.

They had managed to get information that the Red Rebel's might possibly be trafficking in humans. If the person imitating the Wraith were really acting as the Wraith would have acted, then they had decided that this may be the place to start.

Raphael scanned the area again. All seemed unusually quiet until he heard his first gunshot. He narrowed his eyes as more gunshots rang out and pulse beams crackled through the night. Frantic, terrified shouting began filtering up from within the building below.

Raphael looked to Leonardo, waiting for his older brother's orders. Raphael had been gone for so long -not to mention alone and by himself- that it was surprising to him that he would look to Leonardo for leadership now; and yet he did. Falling easily into old habits he supposed.

Leonardo had taken a step forward and then froze. Raphael frowned in confusion and followed his brother's shocked gaze across the street. Raphael swore that he felt his heart stop beating in his chest.

Standing on the rooftop that had been empty only moments before, was Katherine.

The moon lit her up from behind, casting an otherworldly glow around her dark silhouette. Her silver hair blew gently in the wind, her petite body covered in skin tight, black body armour; her face half concealed in darkness, the rest pale and seemingly lit from within.

Raphael tried to swallow, but found he couldn't. Even though they were concealed within the dark shadows on the opposite rooftop, she could still see them; he knew she could, because she was looking right at him. He took a shaky step forward out of the clinging darkness that surrounded him.

The building suddenly exploded in a brilliance of devastating flame, bright orange light, and thick black smoke that swirled, billowed and roared through the night as Raphael stared at the building in abject horror.

The Wraith was swallowed up whole and consumed completely by the merciless orange, amber, and crimson flames that rolled, swayed and burned their terrifyingly beautiful dance.

"NOOO!" He roared in shocked horror; shaking his head from side to side in disbelief. His scream mixed in with the shouted sounds of panic, and fear emanating from the burning building below him. He took another step closer to the edge, the thought that there may be innocents now trapped within the burning building, momentarily crowding out his renewed grief.

He felt a hand firmly clutch at his shoulder. He quickly turned his head and looked into the hazelnut brown eyes of his genius brother.

"It's okay, Raph," Donatello soothed calmly. "The flames are already dying down. Whatever types of explosives used were obviously designed to attract attention and cause panic; not to destroy the structural integrity of the building. Besides the firefighters, rescue crews, and police are coming."

Raphael looked at the building again and realized that his younger brother was right. There was more smoke now than flames, which seemed to be contained to one room near the top story of the four story building. Raphael could also make out the bright flashing lights of emergency crews and police, as well as the sound of hover choppers echoing through the night.

Raphael felt his knees give way beneath him. He stared blankly at the pitted concrete roof that he was kneeling on.

"Do you think..." He began, swallowing down the lump of grief in his throat before being able to continue. "Do you think that maybe... maybe it really is Katherine's ghost?" He whispered wretchedly.

Raphael raised his head slightly and looked over at Leonardo -who was on his knees as well- head bowed towards the ground as if in silent prayer. Leonardo's head slowly rose and looked over at him. "I would like to think that wherever Katherine's spirit is, that she found peace and is at rest," Leonardo answered softly.

"It wasn't her," Donatello offered up quietly. "Katherine never wore a mask." Raphael looked up at his younger brother and frowned deeply. "They got everything else right. She was wearing exactly what Katherine was wearing the night she... the night she was killed; but Katherine never hid her face...ever. She always made sure that her enemies were able to see her face, to let them know it really was her."

Raphael shakily got to his feet, and dragged his hands down his face. Seeing the figure of Katherine -even if she was a striking look a-like fake- was nearly too much for him to bear. He turned and walked over, helping Leonardo up off the ground.

"Leo, I swear it was...her," he whispered.

"I know," Leonardo replied softly, grasping Raphael's shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"So what do we do now?" Michelangelo asked, his own voice rough with emotion.

"We find her, and discover what she's up to," Leonardo answered shakily, pulling back into the dark, familiar, dark, concealing shadows as a hover chopper flew overhead.

Raphael stepped back as well, knowing that it was time to go.

* * *

**Toshiro** watched his father and his uncles as they watched a building across the way. After promising his father that he would stay in the lair and watch over his younger siblings, he had snuck out. Sage was going to cover for him. Her own curiosity as to what was really going on fuelling her unusual acquiescence to the subterfuge.

A dark clad woman suddenly appeared on the roof of the building. Toshiro frowned at his family's unexpected reaction to her sudden presence.

The building she stood on was suddenly rocked by a bright, night shattering explosion. Both his Uncle Raphael and his father cried out in shock and what Toshiro could only describe as grief or horror. The woman vanished into the flames running across the rooftop and meeting up with two black clad men. They then vanished over the side of the building and were lost to his sight.

Toshiro turned his attention back to his father and Uncle Raphael, both of whom were on their knees, heads hanging in... sorrow? He was too far away to tell for sure.

He frowned thoughtfully in the direction that the woman had gone. He slipped into the darkness and made his way back to the lair, intent on making it there before his father and uncles returned home.

He was thoughtful as he made his way to the lair. He knew that there was something going on besides the gang war that had his father and his uncles going out each and every night. But what exactly this was had been just as puzzling as his family's reactions tonight.

Toshiro had gotten Ren to spy on their father. It had taken some persuading, but Ren was always up for a bit of fun. Unfortunately he hadn't wanted to get into any more trouble than he had been. The 'Mess' incident and subsequent grounding had still been fresh in his mind. But when Toshiro said that he didn't believe that his brother would even be able to spy on their father, Ren had suddenly been up for the challenge.

Luckily for both Ren and himself, their father and all of their uncles were unusually distracted, anxious, and agitated. Ren hadn't been able to get close enough to hear their whispered, yet very heated conversations, but he was able to pick up one word that had been repeated over and over again; 'wraith.'

He wondered briefly why they would be talking -in hushed frantic whispers- about a ghost. That was until he had seen the ghost-like woman standing on the rooftop. His father and uncles had been searching for something, or someone, and Toshiro believed they had found her.

He contemplated the woman and wondered if the wraith was 'Wraith' with a capital 'W'.

Toshiro stealthily entered the lair and managed to signal to Sage that he was home before slipping into his room, undetected by his other two siblings. He paced his room for a few moments before a quiet knock sounded on his door. He opened the door and quickly motioned Sage inside.

He had no doubt that his sister would be bursting with curiosity. Sage slipped into his room and sat down on his bed. "Well?" She asked not even bothering to say 'hi.'

"Not sure," he replied, sliding out his chair from beneath his desk and sitting down. He took up his guitar and began playing a few chords thinking as he did so. His sister didn't bother trying to push him for an answer, she knew him well enough to know that he had to get his thoughts in order before he spoke.

"They were looking for someone, and I think they found her," he said thoughtfully.

"Her?" She asked in surprise.

"Ren said that dad and our uncles were talking about a wraith. I thought it was just another word for ghost, but I think it may have been Wraith, as in a name." He told her, strumming a few more cords before flicking on his amp and turning the volume as low as it would go.

"So what did they do when they found her?" She asked.

"Freaked out," he answered as he continued to play absently. "But not in a 'we hate you and you are our enemy' kind of way, more like a ... 'you shouldn't exist' or a you are supposed to be dead kind of way' I suppose." He paused in his playing as Sage pulled out her tablet.

"The Wraith," she said, as a 3-D image appeared on the surface of the tablet. It was a computer generated image of a woman dressed in black, with long, curly white hair.

"Yeah, that looks like her," he said with a nod. "Except her hair, it was silver, not white," he observed. "Who is she?"

"According to this, she's an urban legend. She is supposedly the ghost of a woman who was killed almost twenty years ago. Her spirit haunts the streets of New York meting out justice to the gangs who dare to hurt innocents," Sage told him as the image disappeared.

"Well, this chick was flesh and blood," he said remembering her escape from the rooftop.

"Well, she was supposedly a rich chick. Her name was..." Sage paused and Toshiro sat up straighter.

"What?" He asked.

"Katherine Wraith," she told him in a hollow voice.

Toshiro felt chills run across his skin giving him goose bumps. They shared a look. Their mother was named Katherine...

"It can't be her," Sage said, shaking her head. "She was shot on the steps of the Museum of Natural History on September 23, 2012. So… Two months after you were born."

Toshiro slumped back in his chair. He absently began to strum again, wondering why his uncles and father had been so upset about the Wraith's appearance.

"She was pretty." Sage observed softly, turning the tablet to face him. There was a picture of a beautiful woman with golden, russet, copper coloured hair, and sparkling green eyes. He felt breathless for a moment, the moss green eyes reminding him of another set of moss green eyes in a face he could never quite remember.

He held out his hand, putting his guitar aside as he took the offered tablet and scrolled through the biography of the mysterious woman whose spirit haunted the streets of New York. She had been 22 years old when she had been killed. She came from some serious money, all of which was tied up in a million legal battles; her stepbrother's running the various companies until the legal battles were all resolved.

"Do you think Mom was pretty?" Sage asked suddenly. Toshiro looked up at Sage, who wore a slightly wistful look on her face. "I mean... When I was a kid, I always pictured her as some amazingly beautiful woman, like a princess in a fairytale."

"A feudal fairytale maybe," he answered with a smirk as he contemplated the type of woman his father would have loved. "She was probably... I don't know. She may have been pretty." He wanted to add _'and blind'_ under his breath, but gave his mother the benefit of the doubt that she had loved his father; even though his father wasn't human. "And delicate," he continued. " Just like a Japanese princess; quiet, gentle and calm." He could imagine his strong, silent, warrior father, arm clutched around a dainty dark haired woman who looked up to his father for protection and guidance.

"And brave," Sage put in softly. He looked at her in surprise, handing her tablet back. "She would have to be brave not to be frightened of our father, and to leave everything behind that she knew to be with him."

All discussion of their mother and the Wraith was suddenly cut off a as a knock sounded on the door. Sage turned off her tablet and slipped it beneath the sheets of his unmade bed.

Toshiro told whoever was at the door to come in. His father entered looking grim and forbidding. Toshiro swallowed, believing that his father knew that he had snuck out of the lair and had followed them.

Sage quickly stood, but his father motioned for her to sit back down. "I've already spoken to Ren and Ryu," their father began seriously. "Your Uncle Casey is in the hospital."

Toshiro felt his skin prickle at the sudden rush of adrenalin, disbelief and worry surged through him. He quickly stood. "W-what happened?" He asked as Sage stood again as well.

"He had a heart attack, but he's fine," his father assured them quickly. "He needs to stay in the hospital for a few days, but April said the surgery went well. She's going to stay with your uncle at the hospital tonight and maybe for the next couple days as well." Their father told them.

Toshiro lowered himself back down into his chair, his mind a little numb. "How is Auntie April? What about Shadow and Logan?" He asked worriedly.

"They are in shock, but they are doing okay," his father said. "We will all go over and visit them when Uncle Casey gets out of the hospital. "

Toshiro nodded as his father placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" His father asked as he held out a hand to Sage. She grasped his scarred hand and buried her face in their father's shoulder. "It's okay, Sage," their father comforted her gently.

Sage nodded and pulled away. She hadn't started to cry, but she was obviously upset.

His father gave him a questioning glance, and he nodded indicating that he was fine; waving his father off to go and comfort his younger siblings. His father gave a curt nod and limped out of his room with Sage in tow. Toshiro grabbed his phone from where he had put it on his desk. He looked at the clock and paused. It was just after midnight, and he didn't want to wake Shadow up if she was sleeping. Wracked with indecision, his phone chose that moment to ring. He answered it quickly, not even looking to see who was calling, but knowing it could only be Shadow.

"Hello?" He asked quietly.

"Toshiro, I… I hope I didn't wake you," Shadow stammered, her voice shaking with the effort to hold back her tears and speak normally.

"I just heard, are you okay? How's Uncle Casey?" He asked her, not knowing what to say to comfort or support her.

"He… he's good, mom's with him now. She's staying the night and Logan went to a friend's house and I… I don't want to be alone." Her voice shook.

"I'll be right there," he said, not even thinking about how he was going to get out of the lair now that his father and uncles were home. He ended his call and walked from his room, down the stairs, and running right into his Uncle Raphael.

His uncle lifted an inquiring eye ridge. "Where ya think you're going?" His husky voice growled.

Toshiro glared at his uncle. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm going to Shadow's," he growled back.

His uncle's face suddenly went bleak and nodded. "I'll hold Leo off for you," he said throwing something at him, which he easily caught. "Be careful," he added quietly.

"T-thanks." Toshiro stammered in surprise as he looked in shock at the keys to his uncle's beloved motorcycle.

They had another motorcycle in the garage which he had begun riding at sixteen, but he hadn't been allowed to ride it out of the sewers. He had drooled over his uncle's classic black crotch rocket with red leather seat, but had never thought his uncle would ever let him ride it. He shook his head and ran for the garage.

The ride to Shadow's was uneventful; the bike riding like a dream. It wasn't until he parked the bike and stared up at his aunt and uncle's apartment that Toshiro realized that he and Shadow were going to be completely alone. It also struck him that Shadow probably thought of him as her 'other' younger brother.

He grimaced and his shoulders slumped slightly as he made his way up the fire escape, tapping softly on the window when he made it to the correct floor. The curtains twitched and the window silently slid open, letting him in. He took off his helmet and Shadow launched herself into his arms. He dropped his helmet to the ground and wrapped his arms around her.

"Toshiro. Thank… thank you for coming. I just… I didn't want to… to be alone," she choked out, wiping the tears from her blue eyes, which were overly bright, her dark hair pulled up into a messy ponytail.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything's going to be okay," he reassured her, pulling her in close again and enjoying the feel of her warm body pressed up against his own. He was enjoying the sensation so much he even forgot to remind her to call him Shade.

She nodded tearfully. "It's just so… quiet in here and… I'm sorry, I just… I didn't know who else to call," Shadow whispered miserably.

Toshiro nodded, feeling slightly encouraged that out of everyone she knew, she had called him. "You must be exhausted," he told her, pulling away and brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She had dark circles under her eyes, her freckles standing out starkly against her pale skin.

She started slightly at his touch and pulled away, hugging herself tightly. "I am. Dad started getting pains in his chest around dinner yesterday, then at 2am, Mom rushed him to the hospital and he was in surgery for a few hours and then in recovery and… I am so tired, but I just… I can't sleep. I'm too wired. I can't stop shaking… Toshiro, he's only 55." She wiped more tears away from her cheeks as her babbled sentence trailed off.

He nodded not knowing what exactly to say to her. He had only ever lost his mother, and he couldn't even remember her; but the thought of his own father or even one of his uncles suddenly becoming ill - or even worse, dying- was a horror he couldn't even comprehend.

"Mom wanted me to grab some clothes for her and my dad, and some other things... So maybe you could help me, because I am so tired, I'm probably going to forget something." She brushed a few stray hairs away from her face and looked at him, her eyes still full of unshed tears and looking slightly lost.

Toshiro nodded his head in understanding. "We can do that," he told her gently.

Shadow turned and led the way down the hallway to her parent's room. "It's… it's funny," she said opening the door to her parent's room. He stopped just inside the doorway. "I never really go in my parent's room. It was always their space, you know?" She said as she walked to her parent's closet.

Toshiro stepped into the room, feeling as if he was intruding. He frequently entered his own father's room, and also spent a lot of time in both of his uncle's rooms. His uncle Raphael was still crashing on the couch, though his father kept telling him that Ren was going to have to move into his room soon.

Toshiro pushed that horrifying thought away and followed Shadow, standing behind her as she started rooting through her parent's closet, pulling out a few pairs of pants and some shirts for both of her parents. She reached up into the shelf above the hangers, trying to reach a sweater for her mom. She pulled the sweater down and a few other things came with it. She gave a tiny squeal as she hopped out of the way of the falling objects.

Shadow gave a huff of irritation as his attention was caught by a photo album that had been buried by the clutter Shadow had pulled down. She looked at him and followed his gaze. She reached up to grab the album, but was too short. Toshiro reached over her head, pulling the white album down, and giving it to her. She silently walked with it out of the bedroom and into the living room, sitting down on the couch.

Toshiro followed her out and into the living room, sitting down beside her. "It must be my parent's wedding photo album." She said brushing her hands over the white cover. "They... they are always so happy together, even when they fight you can tell that they love each other. And… I know I would never settle for anything less than what my parents have," she said as she flipped the cover open and frowned. "This…" Her eyes flew to Toshiro's. "This is your Uncle's Raph's wedding album," she said in shocked surprise.

"What?!" He croaked in amazement, pulling the album more across his lap and staring dumbly at the picture before him. "This… Uncle Raph was _married_?" He stammered out in disbelief.

His mind tried and failed to imagine his gruff, difficult, stubborn, hot-tempered uncle actually finding and marrying a human woman. He knew his father had married a human woman, but actually seeing the proof that a human woman could love a creature like what they were, was completely different.

He shot a look at Shadow and wondered if she would ever be able to think of him as anything other than a 'brother'. He sighed. At least she didn't think of him as a freak or a monster. Whether Shadow could actually find him attractive on the other hand, even without the whole 'brother' issue, was very doubtful.

He turned his attention back to the album, studying his uncle's wife. "She probably ran away when she figured out how much of an ass he was," Toshiro grumbled under his breath as he stared at the picture of his uncle. He was much younger, and without the metal mask that covered half of his face. He was smiling down at the ethereal creature dressed in blue and silver that smiled back at him. Her silver hair was bound up, only leaving a few curling strands to frame her pale, delicate face.

"She's beautiful," Shadow whispered in awe. "She looks like some fairy princess." Shadow paused for a moment. "You don't think she really was a fairy princess, do you?" She asked uncertainly.

Toshiro shrugged. They both knew that the world was a much more diverse and bizarre place than many humans did. "She looks oddly familiar," he said as he frowned, turning the page.

His eyes scanned the pictures of the wedding ceremony, which looked to have taken place in a cemetery. The bride and groom stood with their backs to the assembled crowd. It was dark, the night lit only by torches. The bridal party was an odd mix; 'traditional' having apparently gone out the window.

On the groom's side he recognized the younger versions of his uncles Michelangelo and Donatello, as well as his Uncle Casey. There was also a large black man who he didn't recognize rounding out the groomsmen.

On the bride's side there was his Auntie April, a tall, blonde haired man acting as a bridesman? And two other women he didn't recognize, but who seemed vaguely familiar as well.

His father was glaringly absent. He wondered if this is what caused his father and his Uncle Raphael to fall out, or if the falling out had occurred before the wedding, and his father hadn't been invited.

They flipped the page and looked at the photos of the wedding party. Everyone was smiling brightly, his uncle and his bride blissfully happy.

He flipped the page again. There were more pictures of the bridal party, this time, with a few other older humans added to the mix. There was a picture of his Uncle Casey and Auntie April holding a toddler who could only be Shadow; while his uncle Raphael and his bride held a turtle child in their arms.

"Hey it's you and me," Shadow exclaimed pulling the picture closer. They flipped the page and there was a picture of just his Uncle Raphael and his bride holding the baby who could only be him. Both were smiling down at him. A funny feeling of something akin to dread, began to crawl across his skin.

"Awwhhh you were so cute, what happened?" Shadow asked teasingly.

Toshiro gave her a quick smile, but turned his attention back to the picture. The woman looked so familiar; her green eyes sparkling with love and joy, his uncle's amber eyes smiling and filled with love and something else; pride maybe? Toshiro's own amber eyes looked back at the camera smiling a happy baby smile.

"I wonder where your dad is?" Shadow questioned as Toshiro turned the page, his hands beginning to shake.

There were more staged bridal party pictures, which finally ended and the candid reception shots began. There were pictures of various people and creatures making toasts to the bride and groom. He finally saw pictures of his father and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "He must have been late," he said as he searched the pictures for his mother, and did not find any woman by his father's side except for -occasionally- the bride.

He found pictures of his other two uncles flirting with the two women who had been the bridesmaids. His Uncle Donatello was blushing as a woman with purple hair gave him a kiss on the cheek. His Uncle Michelangelo was laughing at his brother, a woman with pink hair hanging off his arm. He noticed that his Uncle Michelangelo looked frailer and a little pale, as if he was still recovering from some horrible injury or illness.

He got to the end of the photo album, pulling out the invitation to the wedding.

_Raphael Hamato and Katherine Anastasia Wraith,_

_Cordially invite you to attend their wedding on the fifth day of November two-thousand and twelve at Balmoral Castle, Scotland._

_Wedding at 7:00pm_

_cocktails at 8:00pm_

_Dinner at 8:30pm_

Recognition bloomed through Toshiro as he realized that the woman that his uncle had married was the same woman who had been killed on the steps of the museum, and whose ghost haunted the streets of New York as the Wraith. Sadness surged through him as he realized that his uncle must have lost her very soon after they had been married. He lifted the album up and a scrap of paper fell from between the pages of the wedding album. He picked up the yellowed newspaper article and read it. His eyes widened as he realized that he was looking at an obituary and funeral notice.

_In loving memory of Katherine Anastasia Wraith. Born January 23, 1990 died September 23, 2012. Daughter of Sheila Anastasia Wraith and David Sebastian Summers. She is survived by her two step-brothers Bryan and Robert, her step-father Raymond, and her Great Uncle Carin Wraith. Her brother Carin Sebastian Wraith preceded her into death. A memorial will be held on September 29th, 2012 and a funeral will be held at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on November 5__th__, 2012 at 9:30 am. _

"She faked her own death," he said in surprise, as he put the invitation and the funeral notice back.

"She had her wedding and funeral on the same day. So they buried her in the morning, and married her in the evening. That… I don't know if that's morbid or just efficient," Shadow observed faintly.

Toshiro nodded, a frown forming on his face. He and his brother and sisters all had two middle names. One of Sage's middle names was Sheila; one of his brother's middle names was David, one of Ryu's middle names was Anastasia and one of his own middle names was Carin.

Toshiro swallowed down a lump that had suddenly lodged in his throat as he flipped back to the pictures of the reception. His uncle's wife was in many of the pictures, and in many of them Toshiro himself was being held by her. He knew his mother's name was Katherine, but... it wouldn't make sense that she was his mother, because that would mean... _But there couldn't be two women named Katherine… could there?_ He wondered.

He found a picture of his Uncle Raphael and his wife having a moment. She was glancing down at her belly and lightly touching it, while his uncle also held a hand against her slightly rounded stomach.

Toshiro realized that she was pregnant, or had been. Toshiro knew of no cousins except for the unborn child his Uncle Donatello had lost. Though he supposed, if she had lost the baby, none of his family would have talked about it.

"Wait, I know where I've seen her before," Shadow said excitedly pointing at a picture of a striking older woman who was holding baby Toshiro in her arms. "And it even said her name in the funeral notice, Sheila Wraith. She was a big movie star back in the day; beautiful woman. I mean, she was still stunning well into her forty's. She died when we were still really young, but I know my parents would watch some of the old movies she was in when she was younger," Shadow said as she quickly pulled out her phone. She brought up a picture -not a holovid- of a gorgeous woman in her early twenties. "See," she said and then frowned. "She really looks a lot like Sage. I mean, except for Sage's green hair and slightly green tinged skin, they really could be twins," Shadow observed.

Toshiro felt his world tilt slightly to the side, and his vision blacken around the edges. He flipped back to the picture of his Uncle Raphael and his wife holding baby Toshiro in their arms. He flipped wildly through the pictures and though baby Toshiro seemed to have been passed around to various people and creatures, his Uncle Raphael and wife seemed to do the majority of holding, though all of his uncles and his father did a great deal of holding him as well.

He and Sage were very close in age, only a year and four months apart. The pieces suddenly clicked together as he stared at the woman with the brilliant green eyes that reminded him so strongly of his mother's; and the reason for this was because she _was_ his mother.

"She's my mother," he whispered in disbelief. He knew it with every fibre of his being that this woman was his mother; because he remembered her. One brief flash of memory tumbled through his mind of his mother hugging him close; her blurry indistinct face finally becoming crystal clear in his mind's eye.

"But..." Shadow looked at the picture again. "She was married to your Uncle Raph," Shadow pointed out, her voice trailing off slightly in confusion.

More pieces began to fall into place. Although Toshiro's skin was the same colour as his father's, the stripes that ran across his cheeks; across the back of his neck and the backs limbs were the same rich emerald hue of his Uncle Raphael. In the 'family' photo of him, his mother, and his uncle, his amber eyes were the exact same shade and shape as his uncle; and his mother must have been pregnant with Sage...

Toshiro took a deep, shaky breath and turned to a page where his father was dancing with his mother. His father was glancing down at her, a wistful, longing look of undying love blatantly apparent on his face. His mother smiled up happily at his father, her face full of love and joy. But it was her wedding day; all of her smiles were full of happiness and love.

"Your mother and father may have been together before your mother and your uncle got together and decided to get married," Shadow said her voice sounding uncertain as if she was trying to convince herself that the situation was possible.

Toshiro nodded, knowing that it was possible. It _was_ possible that his father and mother had been together and sometime during her pregnancy they had broken up, and his mother had gotten together and subsequently married his Uncle Raphael.

And his father was obviously still in love with his mother...

"But what about Ryu, Sage and Ren?" He whispered uncertainly.

If his Uncle Raphael had married his mother, that meant that his siblings were his half siblings, and cousins. But... the look of fatherly pride on his uncle's face gave him pause; couple that with his uncle's snarled words a few weeks back when Toshiro had encountered him in the kitchen. He had yelled at his Uncle Raphael that he wasn't his father, and that he didn't need another one. His uncle had flinched and had gotten furious, but Toshiro had thought at the time it was because he was mouthing off. Now the slight pauses between '_your_' and _'father'_; his uncle's sudden and extreme reaction to the mention of his mother; and the reason his uncle had went in search of their mother instead of their father now made perfect sense. The underlying meaning behind his uncle's words and actions was now blindingly clear.

"My Uncle Raph... is... is... he's my father," he whispered numbly.

* * *

**Uh-oh things are about to get complicated I think;)**

**Reviews and opinions are greatly appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A big giant thank you as always to Amonraphoenix for beta reading this chaper and for giving me wonderful ideas and support! You are beyond awesome!**

**Also a big thank you to Dondena who also beta read this chapter for me as well!:)**

**And I want to thank my two reviewers I love kittens too and Aangandkatarfan for their lovely reviews!**

**now on with the show:)**

* * *

Chapter 6

**Toshiro** felt his entire world come crashing down around him. Everything he had known, or thought he had known, had been a lie; a lie that had been perpetrated by his family and his family's friends.

His Auntie April and Uncle Casey had known, and so had his Uncles Michelangelo and Donatello. They had all known and lied to his and his sibling's faces for all these years.

He felt a warm, soft hand touch his cheek, turning his face until he looked into Shadow's overly blue eyes. "Toshiro... there... there must have been a good reason..." her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"For them to lie to us?" he snapped, his anger seething just below the surface. It took all of his willpower not stand up and throw the book at the far wall; the book that had just destroyed his world.

He could just picture his father -his real one- finding out his wife had been killed and being beside himself with grief, striking out on a hopeless mission to find her or her body; only to come home and find that his children had been stolen -by his own brother- who had also been in love with his wife.

Horrible scenarios flew through his mind as his anger lessened at seeing the worried and fearful look on Shadow's face. He took a deep, calming breath. "I'm sorry, Shadow, this is supposed to be about you , and your family," he apologized softly, not knowing if he felt closer to violence or tears at the moment.

"Toshiro..." Shadow turned so that she was able to press herself into him as much as she could and give him a comforting hug. If he hadn't been so upset he would have been thrilled by this particular action. "My dad is going to be fine; he'll be home in a few days. This..." she pulled away slightly and motioned to the photo album. "I don't even know what to say," she admitted truthfully.

Toshiro felt himself smile slightly. "That's how I felt when I heard about your father's heart attack," he told her softly. They both stared at each other for a few moments, a strange silence settling between them. Shadow blinked and pulled away, standing nervously.

"So what are you going to do?" She questioned him softly, breaking the sudden tension that had built up in the room.

Toshiro looked back at the album still sitting in his lap. "Do you remember something?" he asked Shadow. "About my mother... about anything?" He had never asked her before, which seemed strange; after all, Shadow was almost a year older than him, but he had never brought it up when he was younger, and now that he was older he supposed it was because he tried not to think about his mother's murder and ever since Shadow had gone off to college, he hadn't seen her much. Even though she still lived at home, she never really seemed to be around.

Shadow sat back down beside him, her face set into deep, thoughtful lines. "I remember her -now that I've seen her picture- I do remember something. Nothing about her personality or anything like that, but... I think I remember being in this massive house, more like a mansion." She scrunched up her nose slightly -which Toshiro thought was adorable- as she tried to call to mind her buried memories. "I remember running up and down these huge set of stairs, and wanting to slide down the wooden banister, but my mom wouldn't let me. And...I think there was a lake, and lots of trees outside..." Her eyes suddenly widened in shock.

"What?" he asked excitedly, figuring that she had remembered something more important than someone's house who she didn't know, but where they had all visited for some reason.

"I remember you were running across the floor in that big house. I think we were playing tag and you were trying to catch me, but you tripped and fell and hurt your knee. You had begun crying for your daddy and your Uncle Raph had rushed up to you and you cried, 'Daddy, I hurt my knee.' Your Uncle Raph told you that you were okay and that, 'Big Boys like you don't cry over small little scrapes', and that 'if you want to grow up to be big and strong like me, then you have to learn to take your lumps'. Then your mom came in and smacked your Uncle Raph lightly up the side of the head and said, 'Don't say things like that to your son, he's only 3, and besides, we don't _want_ him to turn out like you.' But she had this teasing smile on her face and your Uncle Raph just stood and rubbed his head and said, 'See,' to you, and you laughed, and then your mom handed -it must have been Ryu- to him and said 'Your daughter needs to be changed.' And then you and I began playing tag again and I didn't see what else happened, but I think your father came into the room with Ren and Sage…" Her voice trailed off for a moment. "Oh my God, your Uncle Raph is your father," she said in stunned disbelief.

Toshiro felt his world tilt onto its side again because Shadow's vivid memory removed all doubt from his mind of his and his sibling's parentage. He felt sick to his stomach as he flipped back through the photo album to the very beginning, looking at the picture of his mother and his _real _father -together- smiling for the camera. His fingers brushed over the photograph and he wondered what had gone so horribly wrong that everything had gotten so messed up. Of course he knew what had gone wrong; his mother had been killed.

"My mom faked her own death, married my father -my real one- became the Wraith and was murdered," he finished softly. His family's reaction to the woman pretending to be the Wraith on the rooftop now made perfect sense.

"You can stay here for as long as you want." Shadow offered quietly into the silence that had settled over the room.

Toshiro nodded bleakly. "Thanks," he answered, but knew that he would have to face his family eventually. He closed the wedding album and set it aside, needing to focus on anything other than what was waiting for him back home. He turned so that he was facing Shadow. "I can't run away, but I'm here for you. I will stay here as long as you want me to be." He told her softly as he took hold of her hand.

She pulled her hand away and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. "Thank you, Toshiro." She looked away from his gaze and bit her lip slightly. "Do you want me to go with you?" She offered.

Toshiro could imagine that things would not go well at home - possibly getting physical- and he didn't want Shadow to be stuck in the middle of anything that might happen.

"Thanks," he answered with a slight smile, dreading what was going to happen when he went home. "But I think things may get a little..." His voice trailed off as Shadow nodded in understanding. She knew exactly what his family was like.

"Okay." She nodded. "But you can call me if you need me, or if you need to come back," she told him, and he nodded his thanks, giving her a quick hug of appreciation.

After this Shadow offered to put in a movie, which they watched until they had both fallen asleep on the couch. Shadow's head had fallen onto his shoulder sometime during the night. He woke up when she had lifted up her head, slipping silently from the couch, and covering him with a light blanket. She had then made her way sleepily to her bedroom. He had pretended to be asleep, and soon afterwards fell into an exhausted slumber.

When he had woken up in the morning, he had made Shadow breakfast, since he got up earlier than she had. He was just placing the plate of bacon and eggs on the kitchen table when she groggily stumbled into the kitchen. He knew that she was going to go to the hospital to see her father and to give her parents the bags she had packed for them. She thanked him, obviously surprised that he had made her breakfast, but he didn't stay. He thanked her for listening to him, and asked to borrow the wedding album. He had then hopped on his _real_ father's bike and headed home.

On the ride home he imagined the various scenarios that could play out once he arrived at the lair. He was furious, but under his smoldering fury were feelings of hurt, confusion and betrayal. He just couldn't understand why his uncles had lied to all of them for all of these years.

He didn't even want to know how his siblings were going to take the news. He actually hoped that he would be able to protect them from his family's lies for as long as he could; maybe he would be able to tell them in a way that wouldn't be as painful, though he somehow doubted that would be possible.

He pulled into the garage and turned off the bike. He pulled off his helmet but sat there staring blankly at the shiny black surface for several moments, not knowing what to do or where to go.

"That was your mother's bike," his Uncle Raphael's gravelly voice rumbled from a shadowed corner.

Toshiro jumped in surprise, dropping his helmet so that it landed on the cement floor with a sharp crack.

He looked over his shoulder and saw his father -because that is who he really was- pull himself out of the deep shadows.

"You waited up for me all night?" Toshiro asked in shock, bending over and picking up his helmet from the ground, making no motion to get off the bike. He ignored his father's information about his mother, because it was just one more thing that reminded him that this turtle was his biological father; not the turtle who had raised him and who he thought of as 'father'.

His father snorted. "Someone had to." He answered. "Leo was beyond pissed off, but I told him where to go and how to get there." He chuckled as if he had enjoyed telling his older sibling to screw off.

"Uncle Raph..." He began, not able to call him 'Father' yet because it would sound so foreign to him that he was unable to get the word out of his mouth. The turtle who had raised him was his father -even if he wasn't his biological father- but still, they should all have been told the truth a long time ago.

The turtle who he had believed to be his father chose that moment to limp into the garage. That he was furious was blatantly obvious. His dark eyes were narrowed in anger, his body tense, his jaw clenched so tightly Toshiro could see the muscles standing out. "Toshiro, you know you were not supposed to leave the lair..." He began angrily.

"Give the kid a break, Leo, geez. Shadow was all alone, he wasn't about to leave her at April and Casey's apartment by herself. Besides, you ever want the kid to go out on a date, he's gonna havta be allowed to leave the lair," his biological father pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Toshiro felt the blood rush to his cheeks turning them dark with embarrassment.

"Shadow's like a sister to him." The turtle that had raised him ground out angrily.

"Okay, Leo, you just keep believin' that, if it makes you sleep better at night," his biological father mocked.

"Regardless, he should have talked to me first-" his fake father began again.

"I told him he could go," his real father shot back, his amber eye burning with anger.

"You don't have the right to tell my son-" he snarled but Toshiro had heard enough.

Toshiro threw his helmet across the room where it struck the brick wall with a resounding crack, bouncing off, and clattering to the floor, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop.

His father blinked his good eye in surprise while his fake father scowled disapprovingly; but both had stopped fighting and had turned their attention to Toshiro.

"Don't you dare try to tell me what to do!" Toshiro shouted at his Uncle Leonardo. "You aren't even my real father, so what gives you the right to even try to lecture me?!" he snarled, finally dismounting from the bike.

His Uncle Leonardo's mouth fell open in stunned shock as did his father's. His uncle's surprise quickly turned to fury as his head snapped around, his dark brown gaze narrowing as it caught his father's amber one.

"You, Bastard!" His Uncle Leonardo snarled, taking a threatening step towards his father.

"Hey, don't look at me; I kept my mouth shut, Leo, just like you wanted me to." His father's words were snide and bitter.

"What's goin' on? Why is everyone yelling?" Ren asked as he let out a huge yawn, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he wandered into the garage.

His Uncle Donatello walked in next, followed by Sage, Ryu, and lastly his Uncle Michelangelo.

The fact that his Uncle Leonardo accused his father of telling Toshiro of his paternity only fuelled his resentment even more. "I'll tell you what's going on," Toshiro bit out angrily, his eyes never leaving his Uncle Leonardo's intense brown gaze. His uncle had paled slightly, but his face remained stern and impassive.

"Toshiro..." his Uncle Leonardo began warningly in a firm, commanding tone.

The condescending tone of voice that his uncle used sent Toshiro over the edge. Any thoughts of sparing his siblings feelings over what he was about to reveal was forgotten as fury took over, not allowing him to control what was now spewing forth from his mouth.

"I'm tired of the lies!" Toshiro yelled. "You are not our father, and you weren't married to our mother! You stole us from our real father! For all I know you were the one who killed our mom because she was married to Uncle Raph, and you couldn't take 'no' for an answer!" he accused furiously, not caring who he hurt with his words, only caring about exposing the harsh, bitter truth to everyone.

* * *

**Leonardo** flinched at his son's accusatory words, the blood draining swiftly from his face. He knew that he was responsible for Katherine's death because he had allowed her to become the Wraith. Every instinct he had told him to not let her put herself in danger, but he had, and because of this she had been killed. But his son's words that he had killed Katherine in cold blood with his own hands out of jealousy cut him to the bone.

"Toshiro-" he began wretchedly. He was trying to keep himself calm, not wanting his tempter to fly out of control. Too many emotions were bubbling and swirling around within him as his carefully crafted world began to fall apart at the seams.

"Don't lie to me!" Toshiro yelled pulling a backpack that must have been Shadow's from his carapace. He pulled what looked like a photo album out and opened it to the first page. "Uncle Raph married Mom. He's our real father, not you," he accused. "And this is the proof." Toshiro was nearly in tears now, angrily dashing away the salty drops that had managed to escape.

Leonardo looked at the album in shock; the sight of Katherine's smiling face, looking so happy drove a metaphorical knife of grief through his already broken heart and soul. The album had been Raphael and Katherine's, a gift from her Uncle Carin. Raphael must have given the album to Casey for safe keeping after their flight from their home after the 'accident' and Katherine's death.

Michelangelo stepped towards Toshiro his mouth opening to speak, but before he was able to, Toshiro turned his anger upon his uncle.

"And you-" Toshiro snarled angrily, his voice laced will hurt and betrayal. "You and Uncle Donny lied to us about the truth. Why? Why would you do that to us?" he asked his voice breaking with anguish.

Michelangelo shot a quick glance over at Raphael and hung his head in guilty shame. Silence fell over the room and Leonardo tried to get his chaotic thoughts in order to offer up an explanation.

Donatello crossed his arms over his plastron. "Leo's your father, Toshiro." his brother's calm voice broke the tense, stunned silence of the room.

Toshiro looked at his siblings, all of whom seemed to be numb with shock, and turned his attention back to his violet clad uncle.

"I don't care if he raised me-" Toshiro began.

"-Biologically." Donatello cut him off.

Toshiro opened his mouth a few times, trying to get his words out before finally being able to utter, "So Sage, Ren and Ryu are my half siblings, and my father was with my mother before Uncle Raph married her?"

Leonardo exchanged a look with Donatello and Raphael. "It's complicated, Kid." Raphael's gruff voice answered softly.

"How complicated can it be?!" Toshiro shouted turning his attention towards Leonardo. "Either you were with Mom or... You were having an affair with her."

Leonardo winced at the word, even though he hadn't been having an affair. He opened his mouth to refute his son's accusation but Raphael answered instead.

"Leo wasn't havin' an affair. We were both dating your mother when you were conceived." Raphael said with a small shrug.

"Ewwwhhh." Ren said into the shocked silence that followed Raphael's pronouncement. "Ouch! What was that for?" Ren protested as he rubbed his shoulder where Ryu had punched him.

"We both loved your mother very much..." Leonardo began wondering how he was going to explain their complex relationship with Katherine, but Toshiro interrupted him.

"So you're my father." Toshiro stated.

Leonardo looked at Raphael. "So is Raphael," he admitted softly. "Biologically both Raphael and I are your fathers... plural."

"What? How does that...? No, I don't think I want to know," Toshiro said shaking his head back and forth in dismayed disgust.

Raphael snorted. "It didn't happen how you're thinkin' it did." Raphael pointed out. "That was how Sage happened," Raphael mumbled too softly for the children to hear.

Leonardo felt a blush stain his cheeks dark at Raphael's words. He tried not to think about that night, mostly because that night Katherine had returned from the dead for them, and he had known that he could never endure the pain of that kind of loss again, but he had. He pushed away this painful thought and turned his attention back to Toshiro who was looking at him in angry disgust.

"Gross." Toshiro shook his head angrily.

"Toshiro, you are a Chimera." Donatello put in as an explanation.

"I'm some sort of lab experiment?" he asked in shocked horror.

"Cool!" Ren crowed in excited awe. "Ouch, stop hitting me, Ryu." Ren complained to his twin sister.

"You aren't a lab experiment," Leonardo growled rubbing his fingers across his eyes.

"All of you kids are Chimera," Donatello began, "because you all have both mammal and reptile DNA. But Toshiro has DNA from both Raph and Leo. Toshiro was supposed to be a twin -fraternal of course- just like Ren and Ryu. The eggs each had a different father and fused together creating a single child. It is a rare condition, but it does happen," Donatello pointed out, his voice even and matter-o-fact.

"Fine." Toshiro said his body shaking slightly. "So then why did you lie to us? Why did you take Uncle Raph's kids away from him?" He asked in a wavering voice.

"I didn't take Raph's children away from him," Leonardo said softly.

"Bullshit you didn't," Raphael snarled angrily.

"Raph-" Leonardo began, not wanting to fight with his younger brother in front of the children.

"You had my own kids callin' me 'Uncle'," Raphael bit out furiously.

"They are my children too, Raph," Leonardo shot back. "You left-" he began.

"Leo, I swear to you, I will kick your ass if you even-" Raphael took a threatening step towards him.

"Is... is Uncle Raph really my father?" Sage's soft, shaking voice managed to interrupt what was fast becoming a heated argument that would no doubt devolve into an all out brawl.

Leonardo looked at Sage who had walked over to Toshiro. She had the wedding album in her hands, tears she was rapidly trying to blink back hanging perilously from her dark eyelashes.

Leonardo closed his eyes. "We don't know," he answered truthfully.

Sage looked stunned. The tears that had been trembling at the ends of her lashes now tumbled down her pale cheeks.

"So our mother was a slut, even after you married her," Toshiro growled at Raphael.

Raphael moved so quickly that Leonardo didn't even have time to process his son's words before Raphael was standing in front of their son. Raphael had to look up slightly -Toshiro being slightly taller than Raphael- but the silent menace that rolled off of his brother made up for any height difference.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about your mother that way," Raphael hissed threateningly tapping a finger against Toshiro's plastron.

"We both married your mother," Leonardo explained to Sage softly, knowing that Raphael would not physically hurt Toshiro; at least he hoped he wouldn't. "Raph married her first," he said motioning to the wedding album in her hands. "But I couldn't let her go. I thought I could, but I was wrong. Your Uncle Mikey preformed a hand-fasting ceremony later that night, and yes, Raph was there and knew what was happening." Leonardo finished, wincing slightly. Even to his own ears it sounded bad.

"And that somehow makes it better?" Toshiro snarled back at Leonardo, Raphael taking a step backwards.

"We loved her, she loved us; we didn't care about what the humans thought." Raphael defended, crossing his dark clad arms over his chest.

Leonardo looked at his oldest daughter again. "We don't know who your father is, Sage, because it didn't matter. You were our daughter, that's all we cared about. The same goes for Ren and Ryu. We were a family... We still are." His voice trailed off as he looked at Raphael, who wore a look of anger mixed with bitterness and deep emotional hurt.

"Does that mean that Uncle Donny could be my father? That would make so much more sense," Ren asked in curious hopefulness. "Or even Uncle Mikey," He put in as an afterthought.

Donatello's eyes widened in shock. "Uh... No." he gave a slight cough of embarrassment before answering. "Your mother and I didn't... uh... have that kind of... uh... relationship," he answered with a dark, deep blush.

Leonardo turned his attention to Michelangelo who had remained strangely silent. He looked to be deep in thought.

"Mikey," Raphael rumbled.

Michelangelo blinked owlishly. "Huh?" he asked, looking at everyone who was staring at him. "No." Michelangelo shook his head vehemently back and forth. "Come on, I was with Holly! Stop looking at me like that," he protested innocently.

Ren's face fell, looking slightly disheartened. "So... why did you get us to call Uncle Raph... Uncle Raph if he's our dad... or... maybe our dad...?" His voice trailed off in confusion.

Leonardo looked at Raphael, his brother's eye containing pain, anger and bitterness.

Leonardo sighed heavily. He regretted his actions, now that he knew the truth about why Raphael had left. And knew there was no way to atone for taking away Raphael's right to the children. Leonardo had thought about it and he had realized that if their roles had been reversed, if Raphael had been the one who had been horrifically injured and hadn't felt Katherine die, and if Katherine's mother had asked him to look for Katherine -even if it was just to bring her body home for burial- he knew he wouldn't have been able to say 'no'.

He took a deep breath, about to explain the reason they had taken away Raphael's right to be their father when Raphael spoke first.

"Because after your mother was killed, I left for five years. When I came back none of you knew who I was. Leo was your dad, and Mikey and Donny were scared I was... unstable, and that I was just going to disappear again; which I did."

"Raph-" Leonardo began, not knowing why Raphael was taking all of the blame upon his shoulders.

"I know who your father is, Ren," Donatello interrupted quietly.

Leonardo looked at Donatello in surprise. He then shot an accusatory look at Raphael, believing for a moment that Raphael had made Donatello run a DNA test on Ren, but the look of shock mirrored on Raphael's face gave him pause.

"You ran a DNA test on Ren?" Raphael asked his voice low and angry.

"I ran DNA profiles on all of the children." Donatello answered succinctly.

"Why?" Leonardo asked in angered disbelief. He was slightly hurt that their brother had gone behind their backs and run a paternity test on all of the children. The thought that Katherine had asked his brother to do this popped briefly into his head before he discarded the idea. He knew Katherine better than that, and knew that she had never cared about the paternity of any of their children.

"I didn't run a paternity test. Learning who the children's fathers were was a by-product of the DNA profiles I ran," Donatello defended.

"Why were you running DNA profiles on the kids, Donny?" Raphael growled in confusion.

Donatello answered with a sigh, "Because I wanted to know how Katherine was able to not only get pregnant, but also carry all three of her pregnancies to term and have four perfectly healthy children." His voice sounded tired but contained a small hint of bitterness or frustration.

Leonardo glanced at his children who were all looking at Donatello in confusion and horror as he walked over to the old computer desk that had been shoved up against the wall of the garage; unused. He reached down under the desk and there was small click as a secret drawer popped open.

"Cool." Ren said excitedly, apparently getting over his disappointment of not being either Michelangelo or Donatello's son.

Donatello pulled out a stack of manila folders, yellowed with age and stained with use.

"Donny-" Leonardo began.

"Katherine was unique," Donatello said as he threw the stack of folders down on the table. "And I don't mean just her as a person. Katherine was amazing, right down to her very DNA."

"Donny, what the hell are you talking about?" Raphael growled in irritation, shifting from side to side in agitation.

It was obvious that Raphael was nervous about hearing the results of the paternity test, and if Leonardo were honest with himself, so was he.

"Holly and Ivy were related to-" Donatello began.

"Is this going to get gross?" Ren interrupted. "I mean, it's bad enough that we have to come to grips with the fact that Mom married two guys, I don't know if I can take any more TMI stuff."

"Ren!" Sage snapped stalking over to Ren and smacking him up the side of the head. "Will you just keep your mouth shut," she hissed. "This is important!"

Donatello tapped the folders with his fingers in thought. "They're old enough to know. There isn't really any reason to keep it secret anymore." Donatello said to Leonardo and Raphael.

"Katherine didn't want the children to know." Leonardo pointed out softly.

Donatello paused for a moment. "True, but if the children really wanted to know, she would have told them, because Katherine didn't like secrets," he answered quietly as if the memory of Katherine still had the ability to haunt his younger brother.

Donatello took a deep breath turning his attention to the children "Ren, Ryu, and Sage all have the same biological father-"

Leonardo felt his eyes widen in shock, and he knew before his younger brother even finished speaking who that father was.

"-Raph."

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**BUMBUMBUUUUMMMMMM**

**Well hope everyone enjoyed:)**

**Thoughts and opinions always welcome:) and don't worry things will pick up a bit in the next few chapters, after we get past the sticky **


	8. Chapter 7

**A giant thank you as always to Amonraphoenix who did an amazing job beta reading this chapter, as usual, you are soo awesome!:) also a big thank you to Dondena who also had a look over and beta read this chapter as well:)**

**And a thank you to my lovely reviewers I love kittens too, Diana Fay, and crazymelody**

**Please enjoy this next chapter!**

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Chapter 7

**Leonardo** felt his world blacken around the edges as his knees threatened to collapse beneath him. He had been positive that at the very least, Sage was his biological daughter; but she wasn't. In fact, all of their children save for Toshiro, were Raphael's.

He really had taken away his brother's children.

"When did you know, Donny?" Raphael snarled, his voice shaking with repressed anger.

Leonardo forced his eyes up to look at his younger, genius brother who gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Two years after you left," Donatello answered.

"And you still took Leo's side, even knowin' the kids were all mine!" Raphael shouted furiously.

"It didn't change the fact that we didn't know if you were ever coming home, Raph," Donatello answered softly. "The children needed a father and Leo married Katherine too. They were his, even if they weren't biologically his. And when you came back..." Donatello shrugged obviously not wanting to reveal the events that had occurred when Raphael had come back the first time, mainly, Leonardo nearly killing Raphael.

Leonardo felt another black wave of shame roll over and consume him.

Leonardo forced his eyes to look at his...at Raphael's children; the children he had stolen from their rightful father.

Sage and Ren and Ryu were looking at Raphael with various degrees of shock. Ryu looked thoughtful, as if her paternity made more sense; Ren looked confused, while Sage looked devastated. She was looking at Leonardo as if he had betrayed her in the worst possible way.

"Okay well... I guess..." Ryu trailed off as if she didn't quite know what to say.

Michelangelo spoke up."Your mother thought of both Raph and Leo as your fathers, no matter who the actual biological father was," Michelangelo put in softly. "We didn't lie to you about Leo being your father, he is."

Sage dashed more tears from her eyes as she looked over at Raphael, who seemed to be taking deep, calming breaths; his hands balled into tight fists, his jaw clenched together so tightly Leonardo could hear his teeth grinding together.

"So let me get this straight," Toshiro began, crossing his arms over his chest in anger. "Our mother married both of you, she had all of us, then she died. Raph went and searched for her because for some reason he didn't believe she was dead, but he came back, and when he came back you three all decided that we were better off without him, and he left for another ten years, coming back now."

Leonardo couldn't get any words past the lump that had formed in his throat, and so he nodded his head in agreement of his son's observation.

"So are there any more lies you want to get out into the open?" Toshiro sneered angrily.

"No," Leonardo whispered wretchedly as he shook his head slightly.

Raphael blew out an irritated breath. "We can't change what happened," he growled. "But Mikey's right, Leo's your father just as much as I am, more so because he actually raised you. Probably did a better job than I would have anyway," Raphael admitted resentfully.

"That's not true, Raph," Leonardo told his brother softly.

Raphael grunted but didn't reply.

They all lapsed into silence for a few moments, everyone digesting everything that had been said.

"Why did Mom have to die and leave everything such a mess?" Sage asked bitterly. "How did she even die? What happened that night that none of you ever wants to talk about? Uncle Donny lost his leg and his arm, Uncle R..." Sage stopped suddenly and swallowed before continuing. "Our biological father was burned so badly that he hides half of his face behind a mask, Dad was burned and scarred and his leg and arm... what happened?" Sage asked desperately. "What kind of woman was our mother?" The questions spilled from her lips as more tears trickled down her cheeks as she angrily brushed them away.

"Someone tried to blow us up," Raphael growled, his voice gentling as he stepped towards Sage. "And whoever tried to kill us killed your mother and our two friends. We never found out what happened, or who did it. And I ask myself why your mother had to die every moment of every day." Raphael was whispering now, his voice laced with pain and grief.

Sage looked to him and Leonardo nodded at Raphael's words. Sage's shoulders slumped and Toshiro uncrossed his arms, striding over to Sage, pulling her close and hugging her.

"So...We now have a new dad and a cousin," Ren began thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Raphael asked in confusion.

"Well...Technically, Toshiro is our brother, but he's also our cousin, right?"

Raphael closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "No idea," he admitted.

Donatello nodded in agreement of Ren's observation.

"Wow! That is sooo ...cool!" Ren said seemingly unfazed by the new developments.

Ryu frowned thoughtfully and nodded slowly. "Ren's right. Uncle Raph's cool, he lets us do things that Dad never does." She said with a shrug. "So, does this mean that because mom was dating two guys that I can-"

"No." Raphael and Leonardo both snarled at the same time.

"Oh come on!" Ryu protested, stomping her foot. "Having two dad's sucks!" She said crossing her arms over her plastron which was obscured by her yellow flannel pajamas with tiny pink bunny-rabbits scattered all over them.

"You aren't dating, ever."Leonardo said shaking his head back and forth.

"Ever is a long time, Leo..." Raphael said to him.

Ryu turned a thankful smile towards Raphael. "Thank you-"

"...her and Sage can date when I'm dead." Raphael continued.

"What!?" Ryu yelped as Sage looked at Raphael in shock.

"There ain't no way I am gonna sit around and watch some guy lookin' at my daughters like they are a piece of meat. I'm a guy, I know how guys mind's work." Raphael growled crossing his arms over his chest. "Toshiro and Ren can date since they're old enough, taking into the fact that it's gonna be hard findin' a woman who can get past the whole half mutant turtle thing. Though if Toshiro plays his cards right, he'll be datin' Shadow soon enough."

"Hey!" Toshiro protested his cheeks turning dark with embarrassment.

Raphael snorted. "Sorry, Kid, if that was supposed to be a big secret you failed miserably. Except Leo, I think Leo's the only one who didn't figure that one out." Raphael said with a slight shrug and smirk.

"But that's not fair!" Sage protested and Ryu seconded this.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Ren said waving away his sisters' indignation over the unfairness of being a girl. "Hey, Uncle Raph...I mean... Dad, can I take apart your motorbike to see how it works. The engine is so old school..."

"No." Raphael barked sharply.

"Oh come on, I will put it back together, I promise. I could probably even make it better..." Ren begged.

"No." Raphael growled, shaking his head back and forth.

Leonardo rubbed a tired hand across his eyes and looked at his oldest son and Sage.

"Ren how can you be so..." Sage made wild movements with her hands as she pulled away from Toshiro's hug.

Ren shrugged. "Nothing's changed, not really. We practically have three dads already, what's one more?" Ren pointed out logically.

Everyone looked at Ren in confusion.

"Well, I mean...we all kinda think of Uncle Mikey and Uncle Donny as our other dads, since they kinda raised us too. So adding in one more isn't really that big a deal, right?"

Michelangelo and Donatello both blushed slightly in pleasure, pleased at the thought of being an honorary dad. And Leonardo could acknowledge the truth of that statement. Toshiro was 3 and Sage was 2 when Katherine had been killed; Toshiro remembered Katherine, whereas Sage might not have that strong a remembrance, but at least she was older. The twins were three months old and Donatello and Michelangelo had raised the twins and Toshiro and Sage like they were their own while Leonardo and Raphael had recovered. And then Raphael left and eventually Leonardo was able to look after all off the children. So it was no surprise that Ren and Ryu had a strong attachment to both Michelangelo and Donatello.

Sage opened her mouth and then snapped it shut in frustration. "It is a big deal, Ren. Mom married two guys! How could Mom-"

"Sage, Ren, Toshiro, Ryu, there is something I want to show you," Michelangelo said suddenly interrupting Sage and motioning for the children to follow him from the room.

Leonardo made a move to follow, but Michelangelo just waved him back.

"I got this, Leo," his baby brother said to him as the children reluctantly followed him from the lab, the wedding album clutched tightly in Sage's arms.

"Well, I guess that coulda gone a lot worse," Raphael observed thoughtfully, a hint of repressed anger still threading through his voice.

Leonardo glared at his younger brother. "They are still in shock, Raph," Leonardo rumbled rubbing at his bad leg, the dull throb having turning into a searing pain. "Raph, you didn't have to take all of the blame. You left, but that didn't give me the right -or any of us the right- to take the children away from you," Leonardo whispered. "I'm sorry," he said, truly regretful for what he had done.

"I know," Raphael answered. "But I can't have them thinkin' badly of you, Leo. You said you were sorry, Donny and Mikey have both already apologized, and maybe someday, I'll even be able to forgive all of you for what you did. I'm good at holding a grudge, but I think Katherine would be happy right now, knowin' that the kids know the truth. So I'm trying to let it go. In fact, my biggest consolation is knowin' that when you die, you're gonna have to face Katherine, and I would hate to be in your shoes when you do, 'cause she is gonna rip you a new one. So why don't you forget about it and sit down before you fall down," Raphael growled gruffly, kicking a rolling computer chair over to him.

Leonardo thought about declining the offer, but instead sighed and gratefully fell into the seat. Of course he had waited much too long, his bad leg spasming in protest. He gasped slightly in pain, clutching at his leg and trying to massage the muscle to lessen the pain, even knowing that it was a hopeless cause. He knew that the pain would not cease until his muscle stopped it's frantic spasms.

"It almost makes me glad that my leg and arm weren't able to be saved," Donatello observed quietly as his opened and closed his bionic hand. "Though sometimes I can still feel my missing limbs." He amended softly.

Leonardo looked at Donatello in surprise. Donatello had never commented on his bionic limbs, or the loss of his real ones. Donatello had been upset, or at least, that was what Leonardo had been told. By the time he had been aware of what was going on around him, and the devastating horror of what had happened to not only himself, but the rest of his brothers, Donatello had already made his first of several prototypes for his bionic limbs.

They fell into a tense silence, and Leonardo was able to breathe again as his leg spasms lessened, finally stopping.

Michelangelo walked back into the garage at that moment. "I put on a movie for the kids," he explained at their questioning looks.

Leonardo frowned but Michelangelo looked oddly serious, so he let the matter drop and instead asked Donatello, "Why did you run DNA profiles on the children, Donny?" His voice containing a hint of repressed anger and bitterness, now that he knew the paternity of the children.

Donatello opened up the top file. "I ran DNA profiles on all of us. Katherine, Holly and Ivy included." Donatello said as he closed the file again.

"Why?" Raphael asked, raising an eye ridge in irritation.

"Because I wanted to know why Katherine was able to have children with you two, while Holly and Ivy weren't able to have children with Mikey and myself," Donatello answered softly.

Raphael frowned and shot a concerned glance at Leonardo who shook his head slightly.

"Donny, you and Ivy..." Leonardo paused not knowing how deep the pain was for his brother knowing that his daughter had died before she had even been born.

"Ivy miscarried twice before she got pregnant with Jacqueline," Donatello clarified.

Leonardo felt his mouth fall open at the news. "Donny, you never..." he blurted out in shock.

"I know. We never told anyone. But then she got pregnant with Jacqueline and things were looking good, and then they weren't. My daughter's development had been severely hindered. Her lungs were underdeveloped and she had a multitude of other developmental issues as well. I am actually surprised she had made it as long as she had. She would never have survived even if she had have been born." Donatello paused before continuing. "I lied when I told you that we were going to try again. Ivy and I were done trying. Ivy accepted that it was not meant to be, and although she was broken-hearted, she was accepting of our situation. We knew that there were many other couples out there who couldn't have children, but it wasn't until Holly miscarried as well that I wondered if maybe there was something else wrong."

"Wait, Holly and Mikey were waiting-" Raphael began.

"It happened just before the accident," Michelangelo interrupted. "She didn't even know she was pregnant until she miscarried a month after someone tried to kill us, and everybody and everything was a mess..." Michelangelo explained softly. "We didn't bother telling anyone." Michelangelo shrugged. "Of course Holly and Ivy both knew what was going on with each other, and Ivy must have mentioned something to Donny..."

"I'm sorry, Mikey," Leonardo told his brother softly.

Michelangelo shrugged. "It was a long time ago. It didn't even really get a chance to sink in, and I was kinda relieved actually. We were all nearly killed, Katherine _was _killed. The thought that someone would be able to kill my lover, my kids..." Michelangelo shuddered. "It was too horrible a thought; I couldn't bear that kind of loss. Watching you and Raph, your heartbreak and devastation-" Michelangelo shook his head. " Katherine's death hurt all of us, but it broke both of you," Michelangelo whispered shifting his eyes away before taking a deep breath and continuing. "My relationship with Holly was pretty much over by then anyway. Her and Ivy blamed us for Katherine's death. Ivy was angry and frightened, she had to get away -not that I blame her- but Holly stuck around to help with the kids and the injuries everyone had suffered. I left as soon as I could with Raph because I owed him, and because I wanted to believe that Katherine was out there... somewhere. It was also less awkward for Holly if I wasn't around. Eventually Donny recovered enough to look after the kids and Leo was out of danger and healing, so Holly distanced herself, only dropping by every now and then to make sure everyone was okay. I finally came back when she got engaged to a guy she had met in med school. Holly and Ivy moved on, and we all agreed that it would be safer for everyone if Katherine's family stayed away, and they agreed, because they didn't want to put their new families in danger."

Leonardo had known some of the story, but not all of it. He hadn't known that Holly and Michelangelo had broken up long before Michelangelo had even left with Raphael.

"Mikey, I never knew," he began, not knowing what to say.

Donatello spoke up quietly. "We both pushed Ivy and Holly away because we didn't want them to be killed." Donatello paused before continuing. "Holly and Ivy were never as strong as Katherine, especially not Ivy. Katherine was... " Donatello paused and seemed to change his mind about what he was going to say. "It's hard to love someone who doesn't fight for you, who blames you for things beyond your control, and who leaves you when you need them the most." Donatello finished bitterly.

Leonardo briefly wondered what would have happened if Katherine hadn't fought for them, if she had just walked away. For one Katherine would probably still be alive, but... the children would never have been born. And although Katherine's loss wounded him more than he thought he would be able to bear, he knew that Katherine would have had no regrets, and so he knew he couldn't have any either.

Donatello seemed to shake himself and continued. "Mikey and I were happy that Ivy and Holly managed to find happiness elsewhere. Maybe it was wrong, maybe it was right, but I know that Holly and Ivy are now happily married and each have two children of their own." Donatello told them. "Which means that there was something wrong with us." Donatello continued his previous line of thought.

"I discovered that we can't interbreed with humans. We can't, it's impossible. And yet I had living proof right in front of me that it could happen. That is when I mapped out Katherine's DNA figuring that there was something about her DNA that specifically allowed her to have children. I discovered that a normal human egg cannot be fertilized by our sperm. I did multiple computer simulations and the results were conclusive. It was impossible to create a chimera through natural means. But Katherine's eggs were somehow different. They did not reject the reptilian sperm, and her DNA and yours and Raph's DNA were able to recombine into a healthy child. Holly and Ivy, being related to Katherine, share some of her genetic makeup, but their bodies were attacking the fertilized eggs. Ivy finally managed to carry our child for a significant amount of time, but Jacqueline's DNA was beginning to break down. Her mammalian cells were attacking her reptilian ones. That she had managed to develop as much as she did was a small miracle." Donatello paused again as if reordering his thoughts. "It was after this discovery that I decided to run DNA tests on all of the children to discover how their own cells were not rejecting each other. I found that whatever part of Katherine's DNA that allowed her body not to reject the pregnancy and combine both sets of DNA seamlessly together was passed onto the children, so that they were able to be born perfectly healthy. "

Leonardo stared at Donatello in shock, not quite knowing what to say. He felt his heart sink into his guts at Donatello's words.

"Donny, I didn't understand half of what you just said," Raphael grumbled, "But I still don't get what you are tryin' to tell us," Raphael growled, though his growl was somehow more gentle than it would normally have been.

Leonardo licked his lips, frightened to know the answer to the question that had just slid unwillingly into his mind. "Donny, was it Raph?" Leonardo asked softly. "Was it specifically Katherine and Raph together who were the only two who could produce children?" he asked in a shaky voice. "Is that why none of the children are mine except for Toshiro, who is both mine and Raph's son?"

Raphael's eyes widened in shock and turned to Donatello for answers.

Donatello cleared his throat before answering. "I will admit that I had come up with the same theory as well. Raph's DNA being a constant with all of the children I believed that yes, there was a correlation between Raphael and Katherine being the only ones who would be able to have children together. But after running numerous tests I discovered that any one of us could produce children with Katherine. As to why the all of the children -with the exception of Toshiro- are Raphael's, it may have to do with Katherine possibly being more fertile during a certain part of the day-"

"Or Raph just has better swimmers." Michelangelo bluntly interrupted. Donatello glared at Michelangelo. "What?" Michelangelo asked. "It needed to be said, everyone was thinking it." Michelangelo said with a shrug, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against a desk.

Leonardo closed his eyes at the truth of Michelangelo's words and tried to push away the hurt and bitterness that was creeping up on him.

"Anyway," Donatello gave Michelangelo one more glare before continuing. "I'm saying that Katherine was probably the only woman on the planet that any of us could have had children with." Donatello stated succinctly."Of course whether you actually produced viable offspring will remain to be seen, but-" Donatello began before Raphael interrupted him.

"Donny, are you saying, that out of the entire planet, Katherine was it?" he asked incredulous.

"Yes, Raph," Donatello answered patiently.

"And we just happened to meet her." Raphael continued.

"Yes," Donatello answered.

Raphael slowly nodded. "We were lucky," he whispered looking down before looking back up at Donatello again.

"Uh-oh," Michelangelo said suddenly under his breath. They all looked at their baby brother in confusion. Michelangelo smiled and waved his hand. "Just remembered something, be back in a sec," he said as he walked out of the room. They all stared at each other and shrugged.

"What's viable mean?" Raphael asked.

"Donny means that our...your... children may not be able to have children of their own," Leonardo answered softly.

Raphael frowned. "They're still your kids too, Leo," Raphael growled. He paused before continuing with a different thought. "You had the sex talk with the kids yet?" he asked.

Leonardo glared at his brother.

"I'll take that as a 'no," Raphael observed wryly.

"It isn't something that has really come up, Raph. The children all know how dangerous our lives are, and the cost of bringing someone into it," Leonardo explained grimly.

Raphael gave a shrug. "Never stopped Kitten," Raphael observed quietly.

"Katherine was different," Leonardo replied softly. "Besides, look what happened to her."

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**thoughts and opinions are always welcome!:)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Always thankful to Amonraphoenix who is the best beta and friend around! You are awesome. Words cannot even express how awesome you are!**

**Also, thank you to Dondena for having a read-through as well, it was greatly appreciated.:D**

**Thank you as well to crazy melody, Diana Fay, and I love Kittens too for your wonderful reviews!**

**and now on with the show...**

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Chapter 8

**Toshiro** allowed his Uncle Michelangelo to lead them from the garage and into the living room, because he was too upset to think straight at the moment. He was trying to digest the fact that he had two -not one- but _two_ biological fathers, and that his mother had been married to both of them.

He was trying to understand what kind of woman would be able to seduce two brothers and get them to agree to that kind of arrangement, and failed. He had looked at the photographs of her, and although he could admit to himself that his mother had been stunningly beautiful, he just couldn't line up the image of the woman he would have thought that Leonardo would have loved, and the woman that Raphael would have loved.

Leonardo was controlled, precise and exacting. He was quiet, liked to read, meditate and train. He was affectionate but not overly so and was the exact opposite of Raphael.

Raphael was temperamental, arrogant, selfish, hotheaded, and rude. Though Toshiro could admit that his father did have a few redeeming qualities, such as a more relaxed attitude towards Toshiro and his siblings, as well as a fierce protective streak and perpetual loyalty towards anyone he loved.

So the question then became; What kind of woman would be able to make two very different brothers -brothers who could barely stand to be in the same room as each other without getting into an argument- agree to _share_?

Toshiro would admit to having no clue. Just the thought of it made his brain twitch uncomfortably. He knew that if he were with Shadow and Ren decided he wanted a piece of her, he would have no problem kicking his brother's ass; several times over.

His Uncle Michelangelo walked over and pulled a video out from his collection. _'Stalkers From the Deep' _was emblazoned across the front and Toshiro had to repress a groan. He hated his uncle's old horror movies.

"You might be interested in this one, Toshiro," his uncle said as he popped the disc into the ancient hunk of technology called a DVD player. His uncle closed the case with a snap and left the room, walking back to the garage and leaving them to their own devices. His siblings looked at each other and sat down on the couch.

Toshiro growled and turned away, intent on walking to his room and playing his guitar as loud as he possibly could, because right now, he hated his mother for dying and leaving such a mess behind. And he was mad at both his fathers and uncles for lying to him. Though he supposed his father, Leonardo, had only half lied to him; which just pissed him off even more.

"_Toshiro!"_ A soft feminine voice called. "_Wave to the camera_." Toshiro turned as quickly as he could, his attention caught by the voice that was so hauntingly familiar.

His mother was on the TV. She was standing and holding the baby version of himself in her arms, making him wave at the camera. "_Say 'hi' to Uncle Mikey_."

Toshiro could hear his uncle's laughter behind the camera. "_Can I hold him?_" his uncle's voice could be heard to ask.

His mother and his uncle switched so that his Uncle Michelangelo was now holding him and his mother was holding the camera. Baby Toshiro made funny faces for the camera before giving a huge yawn and beginning to fuss. His mother laughed. "_I think someone needs a nap_." His mother's gentle voice said.

"_I'll take him to bed_." His Uncle Michelangelo offered. There was the scrabbling sound of his mother trying to turn off the video camera, except she hadn't. She placed it on what looked like a fireplace mantel facing out towards the room.

She walked to the opposite side of the room and sat down in a chair. She was very pregnant; in fact she looked like she was going to pop at any second.

His father, Raphael, entered the room. "_Hey, Kitten,_" he said gently. "_Are you okay?_"

Raphael looked younger and it was somehow strange seeing him without the dark clothing and leather trench coat he always wore. Even stranger still was seeing what his uncle looked like before he had felt the need to cover half of his face with a metal mask.

"_Yes, tried, but fine_," she said with a slight smile, rubbing her hand over her swollen belly. "_She's a kicker,_" she said as his father felt her belly as well.

"_She?_" he questioned.

Toshiro's mother chuckled. "_Yes, she. I have a feeling that this one is a girl. Which means we still have to agree on a girl's name... again."_

"_Yeah, well, Leo's obsessed with Midoriko. The guy can't get that name out of his head,_" Raphael complained.

"_I heard that, Raph, and Laura was never even an option the first time around_." His father, Leonardo, walked into the room. Leonardo looked different, and it wasn't just because he was at least fifteen years younger. He looked... _happy_ wasn't quite the right word for what he saw, but it was the best word he could come up with to describe the look of ease and contentment on his face.

"_So, do you think you can handle a little girl, Raphael?"_ His mother asked teasingly as his father, Leonardo, walked towards his mother kneeling down and brushing a finger across her cheek. Her cheek was scarred with a slight puckering of white skin that ran diagonally from close to her lips towards her eye. He hadn't noticed the scar in the photographs, so either the scar was new, or it had been edited out of the pictures.

"_Yeah."_ His father, Raphael said with a soft smirk.

"_Leonardo?_" His mother turned her attention to his other father.

"_No, but I will try and only hope that she is exactly like you_," he answered with a gentle smile.

His mother's smile broadened and she laughed.

"_You sure you know what you're asking for, Leo?_" Raphael observed wryly.

His mother threw her head back and laughed. The sound was full of bright happiness and impish humour.

Leonardo grinned as did Raphael, seemingly unable to tear their eyes away from the beautiful, joyous woman.

"_I think I like the name Sage_." His mother said when she had finished laughing.

Raphael wrinkled up his beak. "_Uh... pass_," he said with a shake of his head.

Leonardo seemed to think about it. "_I don't know_," he finally answered.

His mother just chuckled. "_Why don't you two just agree with me now, because you will both agree with whatever name I come up with later,_" she said teasingly as she stood, Raphael helping her up from the chair.

"_Awwhh com'on, Kitten_," Raphael complained.

Leonardo looked serious for a moment before nodding. "_She's got a point, Raph_." His mother laughed again and walked from the room.

It was strange for Toshiro watching his fathers interact both with each other and his mother. Both Raphael and Leonardo were laughing and joking with each other, and genuinely enjoying each other's company. This was a far cry from the tense animosity that now epitomized their relationship.

"_Just 'cause she's right, doesn't mean I gotta like it, Leo,_" Raphael growled about to follow his wife from the room, but was stopped by Leonardo's hand on Raphael's arm.

Raphael gave Leonardo a questioning look as Leonardo placed a finger to his own lips, obviously listening to his wife's footsteps.

Finally Leonardo released Raphael's arm and spoke. "_I'm worried, Raph_," he admitted.

Raphael glanced at the door before turning his attention back to Leonardo. "Me too, but don't you dare let Kitten hear you say that." Raphael hissed.

Leonardo glared at his brother. "_I'm not stupid, Raph." Leonardo began."I just...Katherine almost died giving birth to Toshiro, I can't..._" he ran a hand across his forehead in a nervous gesture. "_I can't stand the thought that...I couldn't bear it if she died, and if she did it would be our fault_."

"_I know_." Raphael agreed solemnly, his eyes darting towards the door and back again. "_But Kitten will be fine, Leo, she always is, and the baby is going to be fine too._" Raphael said encouragingly, placing a comforting hand on Leonardo's shoulder.

Leonardo seemed to think about Raphael's words and gave a reluctant nod. Raphael released Leonardo's shoulder and walked from the room.

Leonardo turned and studied the camera, a frown on his face. He walked closer and turned it off properly. The screen going faded to black.

Toshiro had a moment to digest his father's conversation before another home movie began playing. This one however was shot during the night, and was of the New York skyline, shot from the top of a building. His mother -no longer pregnant- stood with the two men Toshiro recognized as being in the bridal party at his parent's wedding; the tall black man who had been a groomsman, and the tall blonde haired man who had been a bridesgroom.

"_Michelangelo, what are you doing here_?" his mother hissed. She was dressed from head to toe in a black body suit, her curly silver hair loose and cascading around her face and shoulders.

"_Making_ _a video for posterity." _his uncle's voice answered. "I want the kids to know what you do. How you scare all the bad guys into being less bad, or suffering the wrath of the Wraith."

"_The kids will know what I do, Michelangelo_," his mother pointed out wryly.

"_Yeah well, they can see what you used to do before you got old_," Michelangelo said teasingly.

"_Old_?" she squawked her green eyes widening slightly before narrowing dangerously.

The black man whistled lowly. "_You are a dead man...turtle...whatever, you never comment about a woman's age,_" he said with a slight chuckle.

"_I'm not scared of Kitten, she's all growl and no bite_," his uncle pointed out teasingly.

His mother glared at his uncle, crossing her arms over her chest and lifting up an eyebrow in disbelief.

"_Well, we all know that's not true_." The blonde man answered with a slightly serious smile.

"_Okay, I am only a little scared of Kitten_." his uncle finally admitted with a smile.

"_Michelangelo, I will always be younger than you_," she said poking him playfully in the plastron.

"_Yeah, but I'm a turtle, I am going to age sooo much better than you will. I mean, look at this face_." The camera turned and his uncle Michelangelo grinned into the camera.

His mother snorted. "_Where's Holly, shouldn't you be out bugging her instead of me_?" she questioned.

"_Holly's_ _busy. Med school, remember_?" His uncle sulked, his voice almost bitter.

"_Alright, Katherine, we need to go and make some trouble_." The tall blonde man said as he looked at his watch.

"_Alright, Barry_." She said to the blonde man before turning her attention to the tall black man. "_Deon, let's go. Michelangelo, go ho... oh who am I kidding, just try to keep up, and don't get in the way_," she said as she turned and broke into a run. Her two companions looked after her, smiles on both their faces. They shook their heads and broke into a run, following her.

His uncle turned the camera slightly and Toshiro was able to observe a look that Michelangelo had on his face. He wasn't smiling, just watching as Toshiro's mother ran. Toshiro couldn't even describe the look that Michelangelo had on his face, but there was a serious thoughtfulness to his face that was completely at odds with his uncle's usually carefree demeanor. Suddenly Michelangelo's face broke into a wide grin as he quickly followed on the heels of her two companions.

It was then that Toshiro remembered the woman on the rooftop pretending to be the Wraith, and the two other dark clad figures that followed her across the roof as the building exploded.

Anger burned through him at the thought that someone was running around and impersonating his dead mother.

Toshiro clenched his hands into fists; determined that he was going to find the woman and her cohorts. He was going to find out what they were doing, and if they knew what had happened to his mother.

His Uncle Michelangelo ran into the room at that moment, shutting the DVD player off. His uncle coughed slightly in embarrassment. "Forgot there were other things on here." He ejected the DVD and put it back in its case, but didn't put it back on the shelf.

"Leo doesn't even know I have this," their uncle admitted softly. "I don't think your father wanted to keep everything from all of you. Leo was devastated after your mother's death. He got rid of everything that reminded him of her, because it was just too painful; it still is. I think Raph handled it a little better because I don't think he never really accepted her death. But... Leo made a mistake, we all did. I just wanted you all to see how much your fathers loved your mother, and how much she loved them, and hopefully you will be able to forgive Leo for what he did. He just...we didn't want you to feel abandoned by both your mother and by Raph," he finished quietly.

"Why did she marry both of them?" Sage asked softly, her voice shaking slightly as she clutched the wedding album closely to her chest. "I don't understand, why she just didn't choose; how hard could it have been? And why was Mom out on that rooftop? Was she a fighter? And why did Uncle...why did... Raph leave?" Sage asked in confusion. "We know he thought that Mom was still alive, but why? Why did he think she was still alive?" Sage asked, he voice shaking in anger and other unidentifiable emotions.

Their uncle sighed and sat down on the arm of the couch, facing them. He shifted his eyes away for a moment towards the garage door before turning his attention back to them. He bit his lip as if he were contemplating something weighty, or trying to make a decision before coming to one and leaning forward, lowing his voice. "Okay, I think you are old enough to know what happened, but... it might be hard for you to hear." Michelangelo warned quietly. "And you don't know any of this; at least pretend you don't know until I smooth things out with your fathers."

Toshiro exchanged looks with his siblings who all leaned forward in anticipation. Their uncle gave a slight nod and began talking again. "Your mother wanted to choose between Raph and Leo, she did. She believed it was unfair to all of them that she couldn't choose, and maybe she would have chosen, but in the end, she never had a choice."

"How could she have not had a choice?" Sage blurted out her voice rising and containing a hysterical note that was quickly brought under control. "It isn't like someone held a gun to her head and made her marry both of them."

Michelangelo gave Sage a grim look. "They may as well have." Their uncle said cryptically.

Toshiro walked around the couch and sat down on the coffee table, crossing his arms over his plastron as he listened to his uncle talk.

"Your mother was...innocent isn't quite the right word. She was strangely worldly, smart, beautiful, and both vulnerable and strong at the same time. She wasn't a fighter, but she would die to protect those she loved. When she met Rogue, she was an artist and an archaeologist. The Wraith, well, she came later."

"Who's Rogue?" Toshiro interrupted.

"Raphael. Your mother saved Raph's life, nursed him back to health and fell in love with him. Raph had lost his memory and called himself Rogue. We were able to find him and we tried to get his memory back, but, it wasn't working. Leo knew he needed to get Raph away from your mother so that his memory would return. Raph was repressing his memory because he was...upset about a fight he had with Leo. Anyway, long story short, Leo fell for your mother, and your mother started falling for Leo. Don't judge her too harshly, at this point your mother knew that Rogue wasn't Raph, not really. Rouge was a better version of Raph, without all of his...hang-ups. Anyway Raph couldn't let himself move their relationship forward until he got his memory back, and Leo wasn't going to pursue your mother no matter how much he loved her, because Raph loved her first. Anyway, Raph got his memory back and we all left your mother, thinking that she would be safer without us in her life. Our lives were dangerous, filled with enemies who would stop at nothing to kill us." Michelangelo paused his face grim. He closed his eyes before opening them again.

"One of these enemies, Hun -the leader of the Purple Dragons- found her. He captured her, held her prisoner and tortured her for a week before we even knew he had her. Then he had her killed, her body buried in a shallow grave for us to find. Your mother however managed to pretend she was dead, escaped, and waited for us to come, because she knew we were going to be in danger." Michelangelo shook his head. "That was the kind of woman your mother was. She should have just ran and never looked back, but she didn't. She saved all of us, but this didn't mean she wasn't traumatized. Hun tried to get her to give them information as to where we lived, but she never told him. But during this time, while Hun was torturing her, she held onto her love for your fathers, because thoughts of them were the only thing that allowed her to stay strong enough not to break. The thought of losing either Raph or Leo was so horrifying to her that she couldn't separate out who she loved more; not anymore."

"As for Leo and Raph, they felt guilty for what had happened, blamed themselves and knew she needed them both to recover so they both dated her, believing that one day she would be able to choose. I can't honestly say if your mother still had nightmares anymore or not, but Leo finally stepped back, letting your mother marry Raph. And your mother was okay with losing Leo if that was what he really wanted; except, it wasn't what he wanted. He was trying to do the right and honourable thing, which only made everyone -including himself- miserable. Raph would have been happier to have your mother all to himself, but he knew how much Leo was hurting and how much he loved your mother. Besides, they had already been sharing her for over a year and both of them were Toshiro's fathers anyway, so she 'married' Leo as well. Only a few of us knew that your mother married Leo that night, and he was okay with that. It wasn't as if Raph's marriage to her was legal either; and besides, it isn't like we are human, so it isn't as if we have to follow human customs."

Toshiro digested this information. He could understand both of his fathers loving the same woman, but he had to admit that he still couldn't wrap his head around the concept of both of them marrying the same woman, though his mother apparently had her reasons.

"Of course by the time your mother married Raph and Leo, she had already become the Wraith. She faked her own death and then used her 'ghost' as a way to scare the city's criminal element into staying clear of any innocents. Any who did cross her path, well let's just say she scared them straight. She wasn't a fighter, though Barry, Deon and us all trained her in self defence, which she never used."

"Why'd she fake her own death?" Toshiro interrupted.

Michelangelo studied him a moment before answering. "Because someone held a gun to a four year old girl's head, strapped a bomb around your mother's neck, and forced her to choose; either shoot and kill Leo, or the little girl would die." Michelangelo answered bluntly.

Toshiro felt his eyes widen in shock as his uncle continued. "Hun's family wanted revenge for their brother's death. Your mother did kill Hun, but only to save Leo's life. She would have let Hun go, even after everything he had done to her, but your mother wasn't a killer...we did that to her." Michelangelo whispered miserably.

"She faked her own death to draw out the people who wanted her dead. Your mother managed to bring down the head of the strongest mob family in Chicago. She also managed to get Karai firmly under her thumb as well."

"Karai...as in Karai Saki?" Ryn asked in confusion. "The leader of the Foot Clan?" she yelped in stunned disbelief.

"Yup." Their uncle nodded. "Karai was scared of your mother -or at least- smart enough to be very wary of her. Your mother once faced down Karai -and could have killed her if she had wanted- with nothing more a little black dress, a pair of heels, luck and a whole lotta smarts."

Toshiro looked at the wedding album that Sage had placed on her lap. Sage opened the album and looked at the picture of their mother and Raphael, smiling together happily. But that happiness hadn't lasted long, cut short by someone's malicious designs and death.

"Leo says he felt your mother die." Michelangelo continued answering Sage's questions. "Raph was unconscious at the time and because Leo had been so badly injured, Raph thought that Leo was wrong. That's why Raph believed your mother was still alive, that and I suppose it's because we never found her body. If we would have found her, then least there would have been closure, but with no body, Raph hung onto the hope that somehow...she was still alive. So Raph left to go and find her, because he promised your grandmother -your mother's mom- that he would find her...even if it was only to bury her." Michelangelo told them quietly.

"We have a grandmother?" Ren asked in surprise.

Michelangelo shook his head sadly. "She died a long time ago. That's why Raph came back the first time. We didn't want Raph to leave, we wanted him to stay, but we didn't know if he would. That's why we wanted him to be 'uncle' Raph, to not confuse all of you and so you wouldn't feel like he was abandoning you if he decided to leave again." Michelangelo paused. "Leo's recovery was long, very long and very painful. His physical injuries were too many to count and even included brain damage." Michelangelo whispered. "Leo finally managed to recover, re-learned to walk, to control his emotions and be independent again, that sort of thing. I think...I think Leo blamed Raph for your mother's death since Raph was the one who allowed your mother to become the Wraith. Add to this Raph's abandonment of all of you and Leo was furious with Raph. Leo lost it and he and Raph fought. Raph left for good after that; until now that is."

Toshiro narrowed his eyes suspiciously, believing that there was a little more to the story that what their uncle was telling, but knowing that they wouldn't be able to press their uncle for more information.

"So...do you think she could still be out there somewhere?" Sage asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Their uncle shook his head sadly. "I believed - had hoped for a bit- but...Leo says he felt her heart stop, and I believe him. Your mother's spirit...it was just...gone. I'm sorry."

Sage nodded sadly but shared a look with Toshiro. Fiery determination had lit her eyes. She wanted to find the new Wraith and discover if she had any information about who had killed their mother. Toshiro gave her a small nod of agreement.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Ren observed suddenly into the gloomy silence. "Mom I mean." Ren said tipping his head to the side in thought. Their Uncle Michelangelo's eyes widened in shock. "I mean, you were in love with that Holly, but you loved Mom too."

Toshiro's head snapped towards his younger brother, his eyes widening in shock. Ren tended to be slightly absentminded at times, or maybe overly focused on one particular task, but sometimes he had the eerie ability to be ridiculously observant about things.

Toshiro and his siblings turned their attention to their embarrassed uncle. "We all loved your mother." Was their uncle's evasive reply.

"Yeah, we get that, but you were _in_ love with her," Ren pressed.

Michelangelo gave a shrug. "I fell in love with your mother, but she never loved me in _that_ way. I moved on and fell in love with Holly. I loved Holly; I was going to marry her, but..." Michelangelo hung his head, clasping his hands together. "Your mother had a way of making us forget that we lived lives full of danger. Even after everything that happened to her, we still naively believed that anyone we brought into our lives would be safe. She made us dream of better things and without your mother to keep that dream alive, it vanished, turning instead into a hellish nightmare." Michelangelo paused before continuing his voice laced with sadness. "Sometimes, love isn't enough, and sometimes the love you thought was so strong, was actually as fragile as spun glass," he paused again before continuing in a voice that was so soft Toshiro could barely hear him, and perhaps that was the point.

"The problem with the dead is... they never change. They remain in your memories just as they were, and they become more and more perfect; better than they actually ever were in life." Michelangelo glanced up at them, seemingly shaking himself out of whatever memory had gripped his mind, and turned his attention to Toshiro.

"I know Raph keeps bugging you about Shadow, and don't get me wrong, I'd be happy if things worked out between you two; but just remember that we still live lives that are dangerous. We still have enemies who would stop at nothing, use anyone against us, especially those we love. So just remember that, Toshiro." Michelangelo finished as he stood, looking down at the DVD cover, a sorrowful expression on his face. "But also remember that, sometimes spending every single moment with the one you love may be worth the risk, because you never know when they can be taken away from you forever."

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**Thoughts and opinions are always welcome:)**

**Next chapter should be a little more exciting, I promise:)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Alrighty all, sorry this chapter took so long to post, but hopefully the next chapters will get posted sooner.**

**As always Amonrophoenix, best beta in the world, you are awesome! Many, many thanks for all of your input, ideas and beta reading skills!:)**

**Also a giant thank you to everyone who reviewed so for, thank you thank you!**

**Please enjoy! Hopefully it was worth the wait!**

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**Chapter 9**

**Toshiro** tapped lightly on the glass of Shadow's living room window. He looked around, his eyes trying to survey the darkened night before turning his attention back to the window which was silently slid open by Logan, Shadow's younger brother.

"Hey," he said with a nod.

Toshiro climbed through the window and returned the nod with one of his own. "Is your sister here?" he asked. Toshiro had waited until the next evening to go and tell Shadow everything that had transpired the night before, and figured that she would be close to bursting with curiosity.

"Nope," Logan answered shaking his head back and forth.

Toshiro frowned and wondered where she was, until the thought that perhaps she had gone out on a date crossed him mind.

Logan, his dark green eyes smiling, gave a knowing smirk. "Don't worry; she just went to pick Mom up from the hospital."

Toshiro resisted the urge to grind his teeth together in irritation at the fact that everyone seemed to know that he had a crush on Shadow. He realized then that if his feelings were so obvious, then it was possible Shadow knew of them as well and had just not wanted to hurt his feelings by acknowledging them.

"Hey, if you want my opinion, I think that you'd be a better choice than some of the losers that she's brought home," Logan put in encouragingly.

Toshiro snorted. "Even better than the guy with the Porsche?" he questioned before his brain finally caught up with what Logan had said about where Shadow was. "How is your dad doing?" he asked suddenly feeling ashamed for worrying about his and Shadow's relationship and his own family problems when their dad was in the hospital.

"Dad's okay. We went and seen him today and Mom decided to come home for the night since he is recovering. He should be out of the hospital within the next few days, knowing dad, probably sooner," Logan said with a smile. "Dad is a very bad patient," he chuckled slightly and Toshiro found himself giving an answering smile. He knew his uncle hated being injured. He always wanted to get out of bed sooner than he should and was very cranky; very much like his Uncle R- his father, Raphael.

Toshiro frowned as the revelations of the night before came crashing down around him.

"And especially better than the dude with the Porsche," Logan answered his previous question, probably misunderstanding his suddenly dark demeanour.

Toshiro glanced back at Logan who continued to talk.

"That guy was so full of himself," he shook his head in disgust. "He thought he was all that just 'cause he had a nice car, which I would bet twenty bucks that his parents bought for him." Logan snorted, shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, blowing a stray lock of dark black hair out of his eyes.

"Yeah but at least the dude's got money." Toshiro growled as he thought about what he had and came up with nothing.

"His parent's money," Logan said with a shake of his head. "She didn't like him anyway," Logan, said uncrossing his arms and looking at him with concern.

Toshiro realized then that it didn't matter if Shadow did return his feelings; he could never be with her, because he was a mutant freak that lived in a sewer. He could never get a job or support Shadow in any way because he would always be hidden from the outside world. He knew that it was dangerous knowing them, but Shadow and her family had known them since before he was even born, so this didn't bother him as much as knowing that he could never be a part of her outside life.

He hung his head sadly.

He knew that his father, Leonardo, had always warned him about becoming entangled with humans in any way, but his warnings had always fallen upon deaf ears, until now.

His mother had been murdered and both his uncle's relationships hadn't worked out. A relationship with a human just couldn't work…It just couldn't.

Sage's words come back to him, when she had said that their mother would have had to be 'brave to not be afraid of their father and to leave everything behind to be with him'. His mother had obviously possessed bravery in spades, which in the end, had only gotten her killed.

The thought of what Shadow's life with him would be brought a new feeling of disheartening bleakness rolling over him. Shadow's family would know of him, but no one else would. Not her friends, her co-workers, and where would they even live? Thoughts of domesticity brought up the thought of kids an if he would even be able to have any. He knew he was being ridiculous, imagining a future with a woman he hadn't even dated, but he was being unusually insightful and he hated that he was not going to pursue Shadow anymore, because she deserved so much better than him.

"Hey, you want to play, SkyKeepers 4 with me 'till Shadow get's home?" Logan asked into the silence.

Toshiro swallowed down the lump of hurt in his throat before he was able to reply. "No, thanks. I'm just going to head home. Don't bother telling Shadow I was here, it wasn't anything important," he said as he turned and headed back towards the window.

"Hey, Toshiro-" Logan began but the sound of the door opening caught both of their attentions.

Toshiro managed to get one foot through the window before his aunt's voice called to him.

"Toshiro?" his aunt asked in question.

Toshiro felt his shoulders slump slightly in defeat as he eased his way back inside.

"Hey, Aunt April." He said with a strained smile as his eyes shifted from his aunt to Shadow and back again. "I didn't hear you," he lied. "How is Uncle Casey doing?" he asked in genuine concern as he took in his aunt's pale and tired face.

His aunt gave a slight smile. "He's getting crankier by the minute, which is good. He will be released in a few days, so I came home to get some rest. But Casey will be very excited to see all of you when he gets home."

Toshiro gave a genuine smile. "I'm glad he's feeling better. I know everyone is anxious to see him. It's just too bad we can't visit him in the hospital." His voice became slightly bitter.

His aunt walked up to him a put a hand on his shoulder. "Casey knows how much all of you care," she said as she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Toshiro turned his head away so he wouldn't have to see the slight worry or perhaps it was pity in his aunt's eyes.

Unfortunately turning his attention away from his aunt only focused it upon Shadow, who was looking at him pensively, her footing shifting from side to side in agitation.

He reluctantly turned his attention away from her and looked at his aunt again. "I know," he answered as his aunt stepped away.

"What was my mother like?" he asked suddenly.

His aunt's face suddenly became guarded. "What do you mean?" his aunt asked cautiously.

A million questions came to his mind, but he discarded all of them and settled on one. "Do you think she ever regretted marrying, Dad?" he asked quietly. He had decided not to let his aunt know that he knew about his two fathers and the fact that his mother had married them both; or that he knew what his mother had suffered at the hands of the man named Hun.

His aunt frowned and seemed to contemplate the question, most likely contemplating whatever restrictions his father, Leonardo, had no doubt placed upon her as well.

"No," His aunt finally answered said shaking her head back and forth. "I know that she never regretted it for even a minute."

Toshiro nodded thoughtfully and turned to leave. "Thanks," he said to his aunt.

Shadow grabbed him by the arm. He paused and then turned to face her.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked as she bodily dragged him towards her bedroom.

Toshiro shot a quick glance at his aunt, who was frowning slightly, and to Logan, who was grinning broadly.

Toshiro briefly wondered if it was possible that his aunt had also not known about his interest in Shadow as her eyes were not suspicious, more concerned.

Shadow dragged him into her room and closed the door behind her. Toshiro took a moment to look around Shadow's room and realized that he hadn't been in her room for years.

Gone were the band posters that had been trying to cover the little girl wallpaper, instead the walls had been decorated in a beige and blue colour scheme. Posters still decorated the walls, but now they were of landscapes and inspirational sayings. His eyes fell upon one wall where there were a few old school comic book posters taped upon it.

"Don't judge me," Shadow said as she stood in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest. Toshiro couldn't help but smile. And then he remembered that he couldn't be with Shadow...ever. The smile fell from his face and he turned his head away.

"What happened last night?" she asked touching his cheek and forcing him to look back at her. "I waited all day to hear from you, but you never called."

She almost sounded disappointed, which made him feel good before he shook his head. It didn't matter, she was probably just curious.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Dad made us train this afternoon and then meditated before another 'family' talk this evening." Toshiro grimaced in disgust.

"Sooo...Raph is your real father?" Shadow asked in confusion.

Toshiro ran a hand down his face. "Yes and no," he said as he walked over to her bed and flopped down on the unmade surface. Shadow took a seat at her desk as she listened to him talk. He told her everything he knew about his mother's marriage, their paternity and the reasons his mother had married both of his fathers in the first place.

When he had finally finished Shadow stared at him in shock. "I really don't know what to say," she said hollowly, as if too stunned to process everything.

"Yeah well, that makes both of us," he admitted softly.

"Are you okay?" she questioned in concern.

He looked at Shadow seriously. "No," he answered truthfully. He was not okay, mostly because he had just realized his place in the world; and no matter that his mother had never regretted any of her choices, she had still ended up dead, and Toshiro could never allow that to happen to Shadow.

Shadow stood and walked over to him, sitting beside him on her bed. She reached over and clasped his slightly cool hand in her own warm one. "It's going to be okay," she said as she gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

Michelangelo's words drifted through his mind, about spending time with those you love because you never knew when they could be taken away forever.

Toshiro looked down at Shadow who was looking up at him with a concerned look on her face. The guilt of being responsible for his mother's death had broken both of his fathers, and he could never bear it if Shadow was hurt or even worse, killed because of him. _But she was already in his life._ He argued in his mind_. But he could never really be a part of her life_. He argued back. These thoughts quickly swirled around in his head as indecision rode through him.

Being near Shadow seemed to be a problem. He had been perfectly willing to walk away from her earlier because he knew she deserved better than him, but now, sitting this close to her…She smelled too damn good, and the heat from her body was burning through his clothes to his skin.

He suddenly stood up. If he didn't leave he was going to do something stupid, like kiss her. But he supposed he would then know if she had feelings for him. But then if she did he would never be able to walk away from her. But if she only thought of him as a brother he would have ruined their friendship.

He was too confused. So he blurted out, "I need to find out who killed my Mother.

Shadow blinked, taken aback by his sudden movement and words.

"Toshiro..." Shadow began but trailed off as she looked at him in confused concern.

"I feel as if...me, my family… that we can't move on or go forward until we find out what happened to her," he told her truthfully.

Shadow nodded. "If you need any help..." Her words trailed off again. "Just...be careful."

Toshiro nodded. He would be careful, but he wanted answers, and he only had one very elusive lead, the new Wraith.

* * *

**Michelangelo** knelt down, resting as his other brother's surveyed the inky night. They had paused in their search for the new Wraith and Michelangelo felt exhausted, more mentally than anything. Toshiro had gone to Shadow's even though he was not supposed to leave the lair, but Michelangelo had let him go, telling both Leonardo and Raphael that it was better to let him out to process everything, than keeping him cooped up and unable to vent.

They had then left Sage in charge of her siblings and began scouring the streets of Manhattan for any signs of the new Wraith. He believed that searching for and confronting the new Wraith was a waste of time, but kept his opinion to himself, following his two oldest brother's lead.

Raphael and Leonardo were busily discussing what part of the city they should scour next, bickering lowly in disagreement. He glanced towards Donatello who was standing away from the rest of them, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall of the rooftop exit.

Michelangelo had been meaning to have a talk with his genius brother about one more secret; a secret that Donatello had been keeping for nearly twenty years. Michelangelo had discovered the secret and kept the knowledge from all of his brothers including Donatello for nearly fifteen years and he was done keeping secrets.

Michelangelo stood and sauntered over to where Donatello was standing. Donatello glanced at him before turning his attention back to Raphael and Leonardo.

"This is a waste of time," Michelangelo mumbled under his breath, but just loud enough for Donatello to hear him.

Donatello turned his attention away from Raphael and Leonardo, his face resigned. "I agree, but..." his voice trailed off.

"Yeah, I know. They need to do this, even if it's only to find out that she knows nothing. It's like a strange kind of...closure I suppose," Michelangelo observed.

Donatello gave a nod of agreement, looking away and remaining silent.

Michelangelo studied his brother wondering if bringing up the children's paternity and their strange genetic anomalies had brought up all of his brother's unpleasant memories associated with Ivy and their own child.

"You okay, Donny?" he asked in concern.

Donatello looked back at him and nodded, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his side. "I keep wondering if we did the right thing. Actually that's not true. I know we didn't. It wasn't the right thing to keep Raph away from his own kids, but..." his voice trailed off.

"We can't change the past, that's why it's called the past."

"I know," he sighed. "I just...How can he ever forgive me for what I did?" he asked.

Michelangelo looked at Raphael still immersed in his conversation with Leonardo. "Just give him time," he replied. "The important thing is that all of the secrets we've been holding onto all these years are finally out. Which means maybe we can all begin to forgive each other, ourselves, and maybe even begin to heal." Michelangelo watched his brother's reaction to his words intently, noticing Donatello's slight flinch as Michelangelo had said 'all of the secrets'.

Donatello remained silent.

Michelangelo had decided that he was done with secrets. They only seemed to fester and hurt rather than protect. Everything needed to be out in the open, so he would give Donatello the chance to come clean.

"So why did you lie?"he asked, his voice lowering.

Donatello's gaze snapped to his, eyes widening in genuine confusion. He glanced back at Raphael and Leonardo as if trying to understand what Michelangelo was alluding to.

"No, not them. I know why we created and held onto all of those secrets and lies," Michelangelo said grimly. "I want to know why you lied to us when Raph and Leo wanted to know Toshiro's paternity."

Donatello paled slightly. "I don't know-"

"Don't lie to me," Michelangelo hissed as he stepped closer to his brother, entering his personal space. "I am tired of the lies."

"H-how long...?"

"Thirteen, fourteen years," he swiftly answered. "I wanted to see the results of the paternity test myself. I didn't think I would understand it, but I wanted to see ours and Toshiro's results. I read them all, but yours was missing. I was going to ask you about it, but with everything that happened, I forgot about it for a few years. You, Raph, Leo, everyone was recovering from...from what had happened at the warehouse and I was looking for something in the garage and I found your desk and the secret compartment. All of our test results were hidden in there, including your file, the files on all of the kids, Katherine, Ivy, Holly, everyone."

"So you've known all this time that the children were all Raph's?" Donatello asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I knew, and I still backed you up because I had been with Raph and knew how unstable he had been while searching for Katherine. But when I realized he was done searching, had accepted that Katherine was dead, I was ready to let him come back into the kids' lives again. But then he and Leo fought and I..." he shook his head, trying to clear it of the images and feelings of horror and grief that had filled him when he had realized that he didn't know if Raphael was alive or dead, and if he would ever see his oldest brother again.

He focused his attention on Donatello again. "Stop trying to change the subject," he bit out angrily. "You told everyone that we were all related by blood. You said that we all had the same mother, and that Raph and I were full brothers, but that Leo and you both had different fathers. But I want to know why you lied."

Donatello flinched, but didn't answer, avoiding his eyes.

"Donny," he growled.

Donatello looked at him, his gaze filling with fear and misery. "Because I didn't want any of you to look at me differently," he whispered wretchedly.

Michelangelo blinked in shock. "Why would we look at you differently?" he asked in surprise. "You are our _brother_."

"No, I'm not," Donatello said sharply with a shake of his head.

"Donny," Michelangelo grasped Donatello's shoulder.

"We aren't related at all, Mikey," Donatello hissed. "You are Raph's full brother and Leo's half brother. You have blood that binds you together. Me, I have no blood relation to any of you!" he whispered angrily. "So I lied. Being a half brother was better than all of you knowing the truth."

Michelangelo's eyes narrowed. "After finding out that you and Leo were only my half brother's, I never once thought of you as half a brother. You two were just as much full brothers to me as Raph was. Even after I found out that you weren't actually related to us by blood, I never thought of you as anything less than my full brother," he insisted fervently.

Donatello's eyes shimmered with tears that he quickly blinked back.

Michelangelo gentled his voice. "I thought for sure that you were going to finally tell us when you revealed the children's paternity and talked about you and Ivy and Holly and myself, but you didn't."

Donatello shook his head. "It just... I was afraid. I still am. After what we had done to Raph, keeping him away from his children, and then me hiding the children's paternity from Raph _and_ Leo. They already had enough reason to hate me. Finding out I wasn't even their brother..." his voice trailed off miserably.

"You have to tell them," he insisted.

"Why?" Donatello asked. "It's my secret. It isn't hurting anyone."

"Except you," Michelangelo softly pointed out. "It's hurting you, and because you are hurting, I am hurting."

Donatello's eyes looked at him in surprise.

"They will still love you like they always have. You _are_ our brother."

Donatello shook his head back and forth in denial.

"Leo doesn't love Sage, Ren or Ryu any less now that he found out they aren't biologically his children." Michelangelo pointed out gently.

"It's different, Mikey. Leo raised those children thinking they were his. And besides, regardless of who the father was, they are Katherine's children, of course he wouldn't think of them any differently."

"You raised those kids like they were your own, Donny. And you have never stopped thinking of them that way, even though they have no blood connection to you at all." Michelangelo insisted. "And by using your own logic," Michelangelo gave a half smile. "Raph and Leo have thought of you as their brother for the past 42 years, I don't think they are going to think of you as anything **but** their brother." Donatello glared at him, knowing Michelangelo had a point.

Michelangelo turned serious, "Blood, not blood, it doesn't matter. You are our brother, and because you are our brother you shouldn't have to carry around all of the secrets and lies that you have been. Just tell them the truth."

"But what if they don't look at me the same way and start treating me differently?" Donatello asked in a soft voice.

"This is Raph and Leo we are talking about."

Donatello sighed and gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Okay, I will tell them, once this thing with the new Wraith is over, okay?"

"Okay," he said giving Donatello's shoulder another squeeze.

"Thanks, Mikey."

Michelangelo smiled and gave a curt nod before turning his attention back to Raphael and Leonardo, who had finally agreed on their next move.

* * *

**The man** tapped on the glass of the large liquid filled tank that stood in front of him, looking at the creature suspended within.

"Don't tap on the glass," his companion growled in irritation.

The man raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother acknowledging his companion; instead he looked at the panel of controls to the right of the tank.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked in question. It was not so much that he believed his companion's plan would fail, or that all of the hard work they had put into place over the last fifteen years would be unsuccessful; he knew it would be successful, once all of the pieces were in play. But there had been so many failures, that he just didn't want to pin his hopes on something doomed to failure.

"Yes," his companion stated emphatically. "We have waited too long for this."

The man finally turned his attention towards his companion, lifting and inquiring eyebrow. "True, but is this going to work?"

"Yes," He answered tersely. "With Project Tyche a success, Project Oedipus, will be a success as well. In fact, I quite expect it to be an even greater success than Tyche was."

"How can you be so sure?" He asked skeptically. "Look at how many 'volunteers' never made it through the initiation stage with project Tyche; and then out of all of the ones that did survive long enough to be useful, only three managed to make it through the training process." He shook his head. "And besides, even if this creature manages to get rid of all of them, what then?" he inquired crossing his arms over his chest.

His companion turned his full attention upon the man. "Imagine, if you will, not needing to hope, wish or even weigh the odds of success. Imagine being able to get everything you want, just by having the power of Luck at your disposal."

The man looked at his companion skeptically.

"You have seen the evidence for yourself." His companion pointed out. "Luck isn't some abstract notion or some concept manipulated by an anthropomorphic personification or gods. It is simple math and genetics. It took years but I was finally able to unlock the gene which gives one particular person a slight advantage in the world. Science was the key, not some false notion of magic or superstition. Specific DNA markers common to all three subjects were identified, catalogued, and manipulated. I know it has taken time, but this," he placed a metal hand gently against the glass, " is my greatest creation. At first I did not understand what I was working with, even though I knew it was somehow possible. But once I found the key, it was so simple. And as for making more, I have a plan for that. I just need a little more...material. It is a shame he was so long in the making, but they do say that revenge is a dish best served cold.

The man looked at his companion and knew that he would be grinning manically, if he still had the ability to do so; which he didn't. Instead the man turned his attention from his pleased companion and slammed his hand down on a large red button, activating the pumps that began to drain the liquid from the tank, better revealing the green-hued creature in front of him.

"How will you know that this creature will be greater than it's DNA contributor?" he asked in question as more and more of the olive and white hued creature was revealed.

"The donor specimen is -I grant you- a formidable opponent, as are the others, but they would be no match for my creation. I know there were many failures before I perfected the science; understood the missing components I needed to create him, and I know we must still run him through his paces -see what he can do- but I have the perfect task in mind to prove his usefulness. Project Tyche, that was just a test run, a prototype if you will. This creature is the culmination of all of that research, amplified by the serum that I had originally created for project Tyche, as well as an added aging serum. I am not waiting another fifteen years to get my revenge upon those... Turtles."

"And Karai?" he asked.

"Karai, has been dying for years, a suitable punishment. She is not my concern any longer. The Turtles, well, they managed to survive my little...trap fifteen years ago, but with what I have in store for them, they shall not survive for much longer."

* * *

**Raphael** tried not to grind his teeth together in frustration. They had been out scouring the city for over a month now, and they hadn't been able to find even a hint of the new Wraith; until tonight. And Leonardo had decided that they had to be cautious.

Instead of getting in her face and confronting her, Leonardo had decided that they should find out where she was going and what she was up to. He wanted to determine whose side she was on. It was possible that she was working for one gang in particular who was trying to take advantage in the change of leadership of the Foot Clan, and Leonardo wanted to make sure of her allegiance before confronting her.

Leonardo had decided that the new Wraith most likely had no information regarding Katherine and her Ghost Squad partners, but Raphael wasn't so sure; and quite frankly he didn't care. He was going to get in her face and demand answers. If she knew anything, great; if not, he wouldn't be overly surprised. If he got to beat her up for being gangland scum, even better.

He watched as the new Wraith and her two dark shadowy companions ran across a rooftop and stopped. Raphael smiled in anticipation.

Leonardo placed a restraining hand on his shoulder and shook his head firmly. Raphael growled but didn't move. He instead looked over their surroundings. They were currently three buildings away from their target and standing on the rooftop of an abandoned building close to the docks. Most of the buildings in this area were abandoned and used for illegal business.

Raphael frowned as he looked around, his eyes trying to discern anything in the darkened, moonless night. He suddenly had the unpleasant feeling of being watched. He took his time and surveyed his surroundings again, feeling the blood drain from his face slightly as he realized where they were. Not four blocks away was where the missile had been launched into the warehouse fifteen years ago, nearly killing all of them and scarring them all for life, both physically and mentally.

* * *

**Kismet** stood on the rooftop waiting for her two companions to catch up. Her eyes darted around as she attempted to shake the feeling of uneasiness that rode along her skin, making the fine hairs on her arms and the back on her neck stand up on end.

"What's wrong, Love?" Hermes asked her in a quiet voice as he slowly walked up to her, his lips close to her ear.

"Something's not right," she answered as she crouched down, Hermes following her. Shai caught up and stood at attention, his hands clenched tightly around his pulse gun, his eyes darting around in agitation.

"You talking about the tail we picked up over on 76th?" Shai asked quietly.

Kismet spared him a quick glance before turning her attention back to the street in front of her. They were going to break into a ten story building owned by the Saki Corporation. Around them were several abandoned office towers and other buildings, some slated for demolition, others just abandoned.

Kismet studied the windows of the building all of which were dark, the building giving off an unused and abandoned appearance.

This mission was more clandestine than their previous missions and required a certain amount of stealth. They weren't going after a few small gangs squabbling over territory; they were going after The Gang that had ruled New York for the past 20 years. But it was not this fact or their tail that sent the fission of danger dancing along her spine, it was something else; something as indescribable as it was intangible. It was a feeling of wrongness and threat that had her searching in vain for a cause.

"No, not the tail," she finally answered Shai. "But I don't think we should go through with the mission," she affirmed as goose bumps rode across her skin under her black armoured suit.

"Listen, Kiss, I know that Karai Saki used to be a big deal back in the day-" Hermes began, but Kismet was already shaking her head back and forth.

"It isn't that," she interrupted. "I feel like we are walking into a trap."

"Are you sure?" Shai asked as his eyes scanned the skyline again, looking for the tail that had been following them for the past several blocks.

"Then we double back and confront our tail and see what they have to say," Hermes said firmly as he stood, clutching his pulse riffle close and making sure the safety was off and the gun charged.

Kismet held up her hand and closed her eyes. She was trying to sense where the danger was coming from. She couldn't tell the future or even understand the events that were about to unfold, but she could sense...intent, would be the best word to describe what she could fee; that and danger. And right now all of her senses were screaming at her that they were in Danger with a capital 'D'.

She scanned the area. In her mind's eye the building that they were supposed to infiltrate was lit up in muddied reds and blacks.

She turned her attention behind her and towards where she knew their tail to be holed up. There was a plethora of colours churning and swirling around a rooftop three blocks away. She frowned. There were muddied reds, blacks, blues, and greens, all writhing around, which was unpleasant to her senses. Feelings of anger, grief, fear, jealousy and resentment burned across her mind's eye. She tried to focus on the tail's feelings towards her and her team instead of just overall feelings and got no real shift in colours, but had the distinct impression that their tail wasn't where their danger was coming from; that was straight in front of them.

"So we call into command and abort," Shai said readying his radio.

Kismet opened her eyes and stared at the unassuming building, wondering what lay before them.

Shai was listening to his com, which he had just turned on, but from the disapproving grunting noises he was making, Kismet knew the news wouldn't be good.

"Bastards!" Shai snarled in anger as he threw the com device over the edge of the building where it disappeared into the blackness below.

"I take it that Command did not give us permission to abort the mission?" Hermes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. They said that we could handle it," Shai grumbled bitterly.

Kismet looked back at the building thoughtfully.

The air had suddenly become charged, electric. Something important was going to happen. Unfortunately she was unsure what _it _was, or if they were even going to be able to survive it.

* * *

**I hope everyone enjoyed!**


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